Ticketmaster Company

Senators and independent concert promoters took turns at a hearing Tuesday slamming a proposed merger of two of the biggest forces in the music industry -- Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Worldwide Inc. "It seems to be monopolistic, plain and simple," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "This is not the American dream, as the companies' witnesses might have you believe."

Ticketmaster Inc. is expected to be spun off from IAC/InterActiveCorp by late July or early August and will borrow $750 million to pay a dividend to its former parent, IAC Chief Financial Officer Tom McInerney said Monday.

Ticketmaster said Tuesday that it would fire about 5% of its global workforce as part of a previously announced cost-reduction plan. The West Hollywood ticket vendor said about 300 jobs would be eliminated. The company has about 6,000 full-time and part-time employees. In August, Ticketmaster said it would reduce operating expenses by about $35 million as it integrated two companies -- ticketing technology maker Paciolan and ticket reseller TicketsNow -- that it acquired earlier this year.

The turf war between the world's top ticketing company and the world's top concert promoter just got bloodier. Ticketmaster Inc. announced Thursday that it had acquired a controlling stake in Front Line Management Group Inc., the artist management company that's home to legacy acts such as the Eagles and Journey along with divas and divos such as Christina Aguilera and Guns N' Roses.

Ticketmaster, the largest seller of U.S. sports and concert tickets, said it was likely to lose its contract with event promoter Live Nation Inc. after a year of negotiations. Live Nation shares surged. "It is doubtful we will extend our agreement when it expires at the end of 2008," Ticketmaster, a unit of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, said in an internal memo to employees obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News.

Ticketmaster says a federal judge in Los Angeles has granted the company's request to block a software company from making or distributing computer programs used to flood Ticketmaster's website with orders. The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins was in response to a lawsuit filed this year by Ticketmaster against RMG Technologies Inc.

Ticketmaster plans to launch a website next year that would allow people to resell tickets to pro football games, the latest push by the event ticketing company into the lucrative secondary ticket market. The company signed a multiyear deal with the National Football League that includes branding and promotion for the site, Ticketmaster was expected to announce today. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The nation's largest concert firm and the industry's ticketing powerhouse may be headed for a behind-the-curtain tussle. At issue: control over the spiraling cost of show admissions that are turning off many music fans. On one side is Live Nation Inc. Chief Executive Michael Rapino, who has vowed to drive down prices that last year soared to an average of $57 per ticket for the most popular shows.

Ticketmaster said it had entered a venture with a Chinese firm to provide exclusive ticketing for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the first step toward expanding into the Chinese market. The agreement between West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster and Beijing CSI Ticketing Development Co. calls for Ticketmaster to supply technology to sell tickets. The company will set up ticket terminals at Bank of China locations as well as call centers and a ticketing website.

Ticketmaster has bought a 25% stake in music-oriented networking website ILike.com in an effort to generate exposure among fans of independent music for the ticket-selling giant. West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster invested $13.3 million in ILike.com and signed a commercial agreement that allowed it to reach ILike users through features on the site, both companies said late Tuesday. Details were not disclosed.