In just under four months, the price for shares of Live Nation Entertainment (symbol: LYV) has risen about 70 percent, according to the financial tracking firm SmarTrend.
Shares closed down a bit today, March 4, at $13.20, but the price is well ahead of the November 11, 2009, price of $7.95 when SmarTrend first identified the stock as one to watch.
The stock’s significant movement over the past few months likely played a part in shareholders essentially rejecting Liberty Media’s bid to gain a 35 percent stake in Live Nation, up from Liberty’s 14 percent ownership in the company. Liberty was offering $12 per share, but was able only to reportedly purchase enough to boost its holdings a fraction, or about 14.5 percent.
At the time when Liberty made its tender offer earlier in the year, the stock was trading at about $10.51 per share.
Live Nation has moved swiftly to reiterate its dominance in the ticketing and live entertainment industries since it received regulatory approval for its merger with Ticketmaster in late January, soon after Liberty made the tender offer. Among the company’s initiatives was signing a deal with Wal-Mart to sell tickets from hundreds of the discount department store’s locations.
