Live Nation/Ticket Bastid to Merge

[Jacquesimomo]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-02-10-live-nation-merge-ticketmaster_N.htm

This oughta be interesting...

[bigeasy711]

You didn't have to be Nostradamus to see this coming. Live Nation said they were going to start selling their own tickets and save the poor consumer from the evil Ticketmaster. Suggesting that this move would end those exorbitant fees. "The current model is broken, pretending a ticket is $75 when the fan understands the ticket is $100." This is a direct quote from Live Nation's CEO for ticketing. Then what do they do? Come out and charge almost the exact fees that TM did. Some white knight.

Now they will be together in their quest to gaffle us out of our hard earned money. I don't usually throw around the word hate hastily, but for these people I might just have to make an exception.

[Belle]

Watch ordering tickets from Live Nation, if you don't read the fine print, you are enrolled in some bs for 9.99 every month on your card until you finally GET THROUGH TO SOME ASS (sorry for yelling) who will help credit the back charges and cancel the subscription to something worthless. We had this done to us a few times. BASTIDS All we wanted were concert tickets not scams and crap. Oh I feel so much better now.

[aardy90210]

email and write your legislators about this. if they didnt do anything about this in 1994, they certainly can do something about it now...

[Belle]

email and write your legislators about this. if they didnt do anything about this in 1994, they certainly can do something about it now...
Hi aardy!! Hope you are well and I think I will take your suggestion and run with it. Kinda in that mood today.

[festivalgirl]

email and write your legislators about this. if they didnt do anything about this in 1994, they certainly can do something about it now...

Charles Schumer has already said he's going to look into this.

[Orleansnj]

This is what I have to say to both of them......

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t281/orleansnj/mooningsmiley.gif

(okay - I know - but I couldn't resist)

As scoopy would say...

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t281/orleansnj/swear11.gif

[ohio]

This is what I have to say to both of them......

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t281/orleansnj/mooningsmiley.gif

(okay - I know - but I couldn't resist)

As scoopy would say...

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t281/orleansnj/swear11.gif
Love it!
I wish Scoop was back with us...

[Orleansnj]

yeah - where's he at?@!?!?!?!

[Belle]

Bruce is fuming mad on this one and the political pressure MAYBE something will be done!

http://wjz.com/entertainment/bruce.springsteen.ticketmaster.2.927598.html

[Corona]

Bruce is fuming mad on this one and the political pressure MAYBE something will be done!

http://wjz.com/entertainment/bruce.springsteen.ticketmaster.2.927598.html
holy shit! That's friggin ridiculous...total BS:mad:

[Freakwinox]

Sums it up...

http://blog.nj.com/njv_shenemans_sketchpad/2009/02/ticketmaster_monopoly.html

[Belle]

Sums it up...

http://blog.nj.com/njv_shenemans_sketchpad/2009/02/ticketmaster_monopoly.html
Feels that way!

[tangledupinblue]

yeah - where's he at?@!?!?!?!

Scoop has computer issues at home and I believe he can't get on here from work.

I think Linda was helping him with a new computer for his house...will email him on his work email to tell him how M#*^%#( F#&#&* missed he is!

[sfnola]

"And you said I was crazy to buy Ticketmaster. Nooooobody is going to pay a 100% service fee you said" -Monty Burns

"It ensures a healthy mix of the rich and ignorant" -Smithers

[kapeman]

Latham, Wachtell on Controversial Ticketmaster Deal With Live Nation
Zach Lowe
The American Lawyer
February 11, 2009

Post a Comment
Printer-friendly Email this Article Reprints & Permissions

The good news: Latham & Watkins guided the concert-promoting giant Live Nation to its $400 million takeover of Ticketmaster (represented by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz) to create a concert-promoting, ticket-selling behemoth worth about $2.5 billion.

The bad news: Lawyers on both sides are probably not done with this transaction, because high-profile critics, from Bruce Springsteen to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, have called for a rigorous antitrust investigation of the deal, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Given this level of attention, it's not surprising that lawyers on the deal weren't exactly ready to gush about it when contacted by The Am Law Daily.

We spoke briefly with James Beaubien, co-head of Latham's corporate department in Los Angeles, where he's worked closely with Live Nation's in-house chief, Michael Rowles, for nearly three years. The two met through mutual friends, and Latham has been doing Live Nation's deal work ever since.

Beaubien says it's unusual to get to work on a "merger of equals," in which both parties come from positions of strength and can make demands for representations from each other on a level basis.

As for the antitrust issues, Beaubien won't comment, except to say that he loves Bruce Springsteen.

"I don't want him criticizing our deal," he says with a laugh.

Pamela Seymon, the lead Wachtell corporate partner representing Ticketmaster, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Seymon has long represented Barry Diller, the media mogul who owns (among other things) Ticketmaster parent IAC, an Internet conglomerate that also includes Expedia and the Ask.com search engine (formerly Ask Jeeves). Seymon advised Diller and IAC during a buying spree in 2002 and 2003 that included the acquisition of Ticketmaster, according to this 2003 story from Corporate Counsel, an Am Law Daily sibling publication.

We also reached out to Wachtell antitrust partners Joseph Larson and David Schwartz because of the scrutiny this deal seems likely to get from the Federal Trade Commission and perhaps the Department of Justice.

The key concern, especially among smaller ticket-sellers and some artists: The merged company will be able to bypass traditional ticket-sales methods and sell tickets to Live Nation shows directly via Ticketmaster's auction resale system, TicketsNow, Wired reports.

It was precisely this practice that aroused Springsteen's ire last week, when he learned that Ticketmaster had shut his fans out of buying tickets through its regular system and had instead steered them to TicketsNow, where seats with a face value of $95 were being offered for up to $2,000. Ticketmaster already faces one lawsuit in Canada in connection with TicketsNow and a second in Los Angeles in which it is accused of trying to monopolize the ticket resale market, Bloomberg reports.

Larson did not immediately return a message and Schwartz declined to comment.

Another interesting antitrust nugget, courtesy of Bloomberg: The deal will give Live Nation access to some internal records of its main promotions rival, Anschutz Co.'s AEG Live, since Anschutz uses Ticketmaster's sales platform.

In the deal, Ticketmaster shareholders will receive 1.384 shares of Live Nation stock for each Ticketmaster share they own. That values Ticketmaster at about $403 million, an 11 percent premium on Monday's closing price, Reuters says.

The new combined company will be called Live Nation Entertainment.

Other Wachtell partners on the deal included: Adam Shapiro (executive compensation and benefits) and T. Elko Strange (tax).

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.

[festivalgirl]

Bruce is fuming mad on this one and the political pressure MAYBE something will be done!

http://wjz.com/entertainment/bruce.springsteen.ticketmaster.2.927598.html

Quite honestly, as much as this sucks, I really want Congress to focus on more important things. If it's an anti-trust thing, the law is already there and should be enforced. If it's just plain greed, nothing to be done. Every few years major stars get upset, right letters, etc. & nothing changes.

Until the economy turns around & I can find a job, concert tickets are not in my budget anyway. :(

[McGregor]

webcast link
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings...ng.cfm?id=3674

OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:
February 17, 2009

NOTICE OF SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights on "The Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger: What Does it Mean for Consumers and the Future of the Concert Business?" for Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Chairman Kohl will preside.

By order of the Chairman

Witness List

Hearing before the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

on

"The Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger: What Does it Mean for Consumers and the Future of the Concert Business?"

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226
2:30 p.m.


Irving Azoff
Chief Executive Officer
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc.
West Hollywood, CA

Michael Rapino
President and Chief Executive Officer
Live Nation, Inc.
Beverly Hills, CA

Jerry Mickelson
Chairman and Executive Vice President
JAM Productions
Chicago, IL

David A. Balto
Senior Fellow
Center for American Progress
Washington, D.C.