(CelebrityAccess) — Robert F.X. Sillerman, the New York media mogul who helped to revolutionize the modern concert industry with SFX Entertainment, died on Sunday. He was 71.
According to Billboard, which first reported the story, Sillerman died of respiratory illness.
A New York native, Sillerman first made his mark with SFX Broadcasting, which acquired radio and television media outlets through the 1990s before it was sold for $1.2 billion in 1998.
Sillerman then launched SFX Entertainment and began rolling up regional concert promoters, creating what would become the nucleus of Live Nation Entertainment. Sillerman sold SFX Entertainment to Clear Channel in 2000 for a reported $4.4 billion.
In 2012, Sillerman attempted to make lightning strike twice when he revived the SFX brand and began to roll up electronic music promoters and companies, including “Disco Donnie” Estopinal’s Disco Productions, Miami nightclub owners Opium Group, Dutch promoter IDT, as well as digital music retailer Beatport.
However, after a much-publicized IPO, the success of the revived SFX failed to materialize. Sillerman took the company private again in 2015 and the company filed for bankruptcy the following year before eventually emerging under new management as LiveStyle.
Sillerman was also the founder of the live television streaming service Viggle and a founding sponsor of The Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy at Brandeis University.
