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Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger: Reports flip-flop on whether DOJ will approve the deal
Wed, Jan 6th 2010 4:59 pm EDT
By Alfred Branch Jr.
_13.gif "Ticketmaster, Live Nation")
Despite extensive criticism of the deal, including scathing indictments by consumer protection groups and promoters and venue operators, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was reportedly on the brink of approving the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, but by this afternoon, the prospects grew decidedly more murky.
Early today, January 6, TheDeal.com reported that unnamed sources were saying that the merger would be approved because DOJ lawyers were "unenthused" by the prospect of opposing it in court. The DOJ doesn't exactly approve or deny a merger, it decides whether to sue to block it, let it go through with no changes, or suggest concessions for the companies to undertake to avoid litigation.
In this case, Live Nation was reportedly being told to sell its year-old ticketing operation to satisfy DOJ's antitrust concerns, a likely buyer of which would be cable television giant Comcast, which owns New Era Tickets and Comcast Spectacor.
By the afternoon, numerous media outlets, including Reuters, contradicted TheDeal.com's report, stressing that not only was the deal's approval not imminent, DOJ lawyers were supposedly preparing the case against it and have been for months.
"The reports that the merger will be approved, like the premature reports of Mark Twain's death, are inaccurate and flawed, and are clearly timed to impact the shareholder vote on Friday," David Balto, former Federal Trade Commission policy director and counsel to the consumer protection groups that oppose the deal, said in a statement. The groups launched an anti-merger Web site, TicketDisaster.org, where they're soliciting public opposition to the deal. Ticketmaster Entertainment has scheduled its shareholder vote on the deal for January 8.
"Ticketmaster may wish that the competitive problems from this merger can be solved through a piecemeal divestiture, but they are wrong," Balto added. "It is not unusual for merging firms to try to rescue a stranded deal with some type of last-minute remedy, but history has shown that consumers are better off when the antitrust cops reject those desperate pleas and protect the interests of a fair and competitive market."
Shares of both Ticketmaster and Live Nation stock, which trade under the symbols TKTM and LYV, respectively, gained as word of the possible DOJ decision spread through the financial markets.
Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, which spearheaded TicketDisaster.org with the National Association of Ticket Brokers, said in a statement Ticketmaster's "just trust us" approach is wearing thin with consumers who have felt gouged by the company's service fees.
"Thousands of consumers, fifty Members of Congress, and a broad and growing coalition of public interest groups and live event industry representatives oppose this merger as an attempt by one behemoth to snap up its only significant rival in the ticketing market and extend its market power into every level of the live event industry. DOJ should block this merger outright, and we have every hope that they will do so."
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Comments represent the opinions of users and do not necessarily reflect the views of TicketNews.I don't understand why the merger WON'T be approved. It actually does reduce certain competition (LN and TM regularly duke it out over access to VIP, fan clubs, pre-sales, merch rights and data), and it is the ONLY way these companies will remain in business (e.g. generate profit and shareholder return). Without the deal LN will continue to flatline, and without LN's business TM's margins also look pretty anemic.
Finally, the concert industry is such a microscopic piece of the U.S. economy, I can't believe DOJ is wasting tax payer money squabbling over it. What is it, five billion dollars a year? That's what Walmart has made since Monday.
Folly!
"...only significant rival in the ticketing market..." Now that's funny.
The fact that the DOJ would even consider allowing such a horribly monopolistic merger to pass simply because they didn't want to do their job and go to court to block it is absurd. What if they decide they couldn't be bothered to spend the time preparing the case against the terrorist from the attempted December 25th terror attack in Detroit? All of us have aspects of our job we are "unenthused" about, it doesn't negate our responsibility to do them. At a time when a lot of people are complaining about the size and reach of our government, I have defended it because I realize there are many things only an entity with the resources and obligation to the public that the government has can do. However, if they are too "unenthused" to use those resources to protect the public interest, then what good are they?
The people stirring up this opposition are the "Ticket Brkers"! They dont want it to go through because TM is switching to paperless tickets and will put them out of business. Brokers are the ones that are allowing tickets to be sold for 5 times the face value and they are the ones screwing the public by scooping up all the best seats and selling them on their sites. By the way...Ticketmaster doesnt set prices, artists and promoters do. Get the facts before you get behind a cause.
Right on, homes. You nailed it right there.
People are cattle, someone says this is wrong and everyone agrees.
This is the same as Microsoft anti-trust.
It does NOT matter if they merger or not. OO NO they are going to charge more for tickets.....who on earth would ever do that!?!?! Brokers maybe??? hummmmm
Nothing will change. If they wanted to kill brokers they could do it now in a week tops. Simple credit card, billing address, and name blocking from buying tickets are make every ticket bought require Drivers license and that printed on the ticket, then you have to show your DL at the show.
Brokers dead in 5 seconds.
The real threat to ticket brokers is ticket brokers, the magic service fess that appear on cart pages...***cough** TN ** cough** ...Ticket brokers will kill ticket brokers... and screw it for all of us.
Setting aside the fact that it's absurd to hold that only licensed drivers should be allowed to buy event tickets, Drivers License Nos. are PRIVILEGED INFORMATION.
are you an idiot..............
SS numbers and DL numbers are used for all types of things. Ever fly a in a plane or you still riding a stone wheel ?
I was just saying how they could block and kill brokers(US) in one day. They wouldn't show it to anyone, just scan it and do it under the security token.
They could do it, what are you going to do about it nothing. Many people want the security to know Anonymous bombers are in the crowd. After the first venue gets hit they will do this.
If you're foolish enough to divulge such information to any party not lawfully allowed to demand such, that's not my problem.
Like plane tickets just print the name on the tickets and match that to DL... = US(brokers) dead. how could you have never thought about this...??
are you seriously advocating that ONLY LICENSED DRIVERS be allowed to PURCHASE EVENT TICKETS?
I don't know which country you live in , but this one states you must have an LEGAL id, so yes either DL/ID/Passport to verify the person and if you don't then you're parent will verify for you due to their name being on the ticket. Which will happen one day. The only save we as brokers will have is if they make a "brokered ticket system" that allows us to enter the persons name and generate a eticket with the on there
And if you read carefully I wasn't saying I want to go out of business(FOOL). I was stating that this merger will not effect brokers in any way nor the public. They can't do anything other than raise the cost of tickets a little , like we do daily. They can't kill brokers only terrorist will do that when they hit a venue and they start checking ID's to the tickets like at airports.
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Stop following the news and only be afraid of what they tell you to be. It amazing since out forefathers how we have complete given up the will to be or do anything outside of skin-sacks. But that's a completely different argument. Just stay focused on the above ^^^^
ARE YOU ADVOCATING THAT ONLY LICENSED DRIVERS BE ALLOWED TO PURCHASE EVENT TICKETS?
"YES" or "NO."
FYI : I am a citizen of both the US and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and, I am quite familiar with the relevant Laws, both Statutory and Regulatory, re. ID requirements.
NO US CITIZEN is REQUIRED TO HAVE ANY - REPEAT, ANY - ID.
NO citizen can be REQUIRED TO PROVIDE SSN or DL, except as expressly allowed by Federal or State Law, respectively.
NO DL INFORMATION may be recorded by anyone, except as expressly allowed by Law.
As for your ad hominem attacks, such ill serve you. If you cannot engage in rational and civil discourse, you consign yourself to being no more than a noisy sophist.
However, a company may lawfully request to see ID for any purchase that has been made with a credit card.
You purchase with credit card, they have the right to ensure the credit card was used lawfully, or deny the purchase.
A merchant may not demand a SPECIFIC kind of ID.
If, for example, physical ID is unavailable, the merchant can use the telephone to acquire an authorization form the issuer based on information of record with the card issuer that the buyer can produce.
This method of using privileged information is precisely that routinely used in handling card-no-in-hand transactions, where the buyer needs to provide Name, Address, Acct. No., Expiry Date and Card Code. Where deemed necessary, the merchant can take the additional step of manually verifying, via telephone call, the Telephone No. of record.
In fact, given the ease with which both counterfeit cards and IDs are produced and acquired, the typical card-in-hand transaction is much more easily fraudulently executed than are card-not-in-hand transaction where the merchant follows the recommended verification procedures.
In any event, under no circumstances is it the case that a merchant may, at his discretion, demand and require information that is, by Law or Regulation, privileged.
And, even then, what information they may record is subject to limitation.
For example, in Pennsylvania, a merchant may NOT record ones DL No., but only that a PA DL was the form of ID presented; the same holds true for a bank cashing a check.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has a team of litigators prepared to oppose the merger of ticketing giant Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation and could decide to take the deal to court, antitrust sources said on Wednesday.
"The DOJ has had a litigation team preparing the case for litigation for months," one antitrust source said, adding that TheDeal.com publication was "inaccurate" in reporting that the Justice Department was prepared to approve the deal.
"From the best we can tell, no decision has been made," said a second antitrust source. "We have the impression that efforts to settle have fallen through."
Shares of both Ticketmaster and Live Nation opened higher on TheDeal.com report but later slid back somewhat on news of potential Justice Department opposition.
Ticketmaster shares were up 5.2 percent at $14.40 on Wednesday afternoon after peaking at $15.02 earlier in the session. Live Nation was up 6.6 percent at $9.97 after jumping as high as $10.28.
Live Nation is the world's largest concert promoter, while Ticketmaster is the leading ticketing group.
Neither Ticketmaster nor Live Nation had any immediate comment.
The deal has been viewed as the Obama administration's first best chance to demonstrate that it is serious about a pledge to take a tougher look at mergers.
"This is such an educational moment," said Bert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, which opposed the deal.
"To create a single platform that goes from the talent all the way down to the fan is to create a system that has no rival. It's a really serious test case for whether the Justice Department is willing to go to litigation."
"DOJ (the Justice Department) should block this merger outright, and we have every hope that they will do so," said TicketDisaster.org, a coalition of consumer groups and venue owners formed to oppose the merger.
David Balto, a former policy director at the Federal Trade Commission who works with the coalition, said the opposition to the merger was "unprecedented."
"Over 50 congressmen have spoke with a single voice saying this merger should be stopped," he said.
But because the companies have different areas of expertise, the deal may be a hard one to fight, said Andre Barlow, an antitrust lawyer with Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC.
"Politically, you wouldn't get in trouble for challenging the deal because everyone hates it, but articulating an antitrust theory is more difficult," he said.
In February, Live Nation announced plans to buy Ticketmaster Entertainment for about $400 million in stock, drawing almost immediate criticism from some U.S. politicians and artists who felt the combined group would have unrivaled power over music fans and the prices they would have to pay.
Last month, the deal got a boost when British antitrust regulators dropped objections and approved it.
*
I hope this article is accurate. I hate financial news websites, they each have their own spin on some stories to help move stocks in whatever way they want. On a side note, I am a ticket broker that shorted 2000 shares of Ticketmaster at $ 25 and covered at a little over $ 5. Thanks for helping fund my business, Mr. Azoff!
We are talking about Irving Azoff here. You know damn well that slimy son of a b**** was behind the leaked report to influence the shareholders vote this week. The guy would sell out his own kids to get this merger to pass.
Richard De La Font & Creedence/John Fogerty vs. Irving Azoff & The Eagles DEATH MATCH!!! CREEDENCE WINS EVERY TIME. THE EAGLES were & still are TERRIBLE!!!
Azoff is probably spinning this thing out as we read this.
Ticketing & Promotions aren't about the music, they're about the MONEY... forget any heart in this, please make sure all posts only address the business side from now on ;)
I hope Obama doesn't try to make a spectacle of this... it's ticketing after all. There are several thousand more important things in the world. Yeah, we can blame people like TM & LN because it's EASY to blame ticketers & promoters. No one ever blames their favorite artists or artist management. In a perfect world Azoff would have to sell his artist management firm.