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Ticketmaster, Live Nation Receive Gov't OK to Finalize Mega Merger

by Amar Toor on January 26, 2010 at 05:15 PM


Ticketmaster, the bane of Pearl Jam's existence so many moons ago, has just finalized a major corporate merger with Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter. The financial marriage only went through, however, after the U.S. Department of Justice gave both companies the green light, a full year after the merger was first submitted for governmental approval. According to Wired, the Department of Justice originally harbored concerns that a merger between the two concert powerhouses could lead to an environment with substantially higher consumer prices. The modified plan approved yesterday, however, includes built-in safeguards and stipulations aimed at preventing the freshly minted Live Nation Entertainment from becoming too powerful.

Ticketmaster must also sell off its ticketing company, as a further means to maintain levels of competition similar to those in place before the merger. Most interesting, though, is the ruling that Live Nation Entertainment will not be able to "play favorites" at the expense of other clients. For example, the company cannot threaten to withhold any former Live Nation artist from a venue if said artist decides not to use its ticketing service. Assistant attorney general Christine Varney, head of the department's antitrust division, claims that the Department of Justice's proposed compromise "promotes robust competition for primary ticketing services and preserves incentives for competitors to innovate and discount, which will benefit consumers."


What does this mean for the average ticket buyer? Well, if all goes according to plan, probably not much. The whole idea behind the Department of Justice's year-long investigation was to guarantee that the newly conjoined companies wouldn't gouge ticket prices. The government has reassured both consumers and competitors that it'll be vigilant about making sure that the new entity keeps its word and practices the code of business ethics to which it has agreed. We'll have to wait and see how the new company plans to revolutionize "the way artists distribute their content and fans access that content." For now, though, we can probably rest assured that we won't have to pay too much more for that already pricey pair of concert tickets. [From: Wired]

Tags: antitrust, live nation, LiveNation, merger, ticketmaster, top

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