John Malone’s Liberty Media to increase its stake in Live Nation Entertainment

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

One day after the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation cleared anti-trust review, John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. said it would purchase up to 34.5 million shares of stock in the newly formed Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Liberty, owner of the Starz cable network, said it would increase its stake to nearly 35% through a tender offer of $12 per share. Liberty, through subsidiaries, currently owns about 14.6% of Live Nation’s stock. The purchase price represents a 14% premium over Monday’s $10.51 closing price for Live Nation.

Liberty, once the largest shareholder of Ticketmaster, said it is party to a stockholder agreement which allows it to acquire up to a 35% stake in Live Nation.

Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster, the dominant entertainment ticketing company, completed the merger Monday, subject to conditions set forth by the U.S. Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski