http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aWCHPZvPqXV0&refer=us Ticketmaster to Buy Stake in Front Line Management (Update3)
By James Callan
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Ticketmaster agreed to buy a controlling stake in Front Line Management Group Inc., challenging Live Nation Inc. and adding musicians including Jimmy Buffett and the Eagles.
Ticketmaster, the largest U.S. ticket broker, will purchase the stake from Warner Music Group Inc. for $123 million in cash. Front Line co-founder Irving Azoff, who has managed the Eagles since 1974, will become chief executive officer of the renamed Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., the West Hollywood, California- based company said today in a statement.
The deal boosts Ticketmaster's competition with concert promoter Live Nation, which has signed artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z to multiyear contracts. Last month, Live Nation agreed to sell tickets in North American venues managed by SMG and announced plans to retake control of ticket sales from Ticketmaster at its own venues.
In January, Ticketmaster acquired TicketsNow Inc. to compete with EBay Inc.'s StubHub.com in consumer-to-consumer ticket sales.
Front Line, started by Azoff and Howard Kaufman in 2004, manages musical acts including Guns N' Roses, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. Azoff, 59, is the former chairman and CEO of MCA Music Entertainment Group. He has produced movies such as ``Urban Cowboy,'' ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' and ``The Hurricane.''
Under the terms of the deal, Azoff will receive restricted stock awards worth 4.5 percent of Ticketmaster's shares. Ticketmaster's current CEO, Sean Moriarty, will become president of Ticketmaster Entertainment.
Ticketmaster began trading publicly Aug. 21. after Barry Diller split it off of IAC/InterActiveCorp. The shares fell 54 cents to $10.35 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Live Nation, based in Beverly Hills, California, lost 80 cents to $9.30 and has fallen 36 percent this year.
SMG, owned by Bethesda, Maryland-based American Capital Ltd., manages 216 performance facilities worldwide, including 75 arenas, nine stadiums and 66 convention centers.
To contact the reporter on this story: James Callan in New York at
Jcallan2@bloomberg.net
