It is with great joy that we announce the union of a once-successful and powerful groom to a giddy, blushing, stock-rich bride. Yes, the Department of Justice has announced that they've given Ticketmaster and Live Nation the OK to become overlords of this and all parallel musical dimensions.
In a side deal, they get to merge. Here's a bit of a recap from the Business Insider:
In February, Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, announced plans to buy Ticketmaster, the leading ticketing group, for about $400 million in stock. After criticism from artists, anti-trust agencies and their competition, the DOJ and other departments across the world investigated the merger.
According to the Business Insider, the DOJ, the UK Competition Commission, and others examined the merger, and the UK group found that the merger would not cause "a substantial lessening of competition in the market for live music ticket retailing or in any other market in the UK." The follow up question should be obvious.
Now, I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not familiar with political process, anti-trust, the music business, or even with buying tickets, but I'm pretty sure that it's common knowledge that there's really only one way to get tickets and avoid exorbitant ticket-selling fees: sleep with a musician.
It ins't going to be a honeymoon without sacrifice, however. Indeed, the newlyweds had to make concessions and spin off some of their business. As the BI puts it:
Under terms accepted by Ticketmaster and Live Nation in their merger, the U.S. Department of Justice required that Ticketmaster sell Paciolan, its ticketing and software services unit, to Comcast's sports and entertainment firm or "another buyer suitable to the department."
Ticketmaster must also license its software to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the company’s largest customer. With a copy of the Ticketmaster software, AEG will be able to market an attractive ticketing system to venues, according to the DOJ.
Under the settlement terms, both companies will be able to compete head-to-head with Ticketmaster, according to the DOJ.
We expect the groom will be taking the bride's name.
via BI