LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Live Nation, is on the make for possible acquisition deals through a partnership with its largest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp.
As previously reported in CelebrityAccess, Liberty became Live Nation's largest stockholder last month after picking up an additional 5.5 million shares for a cool $57.7 million. The purchase raised Liberty's stake in the promoter-giant to 20%.
"We’re on the prowl together," Live Nation Chairman Irving Azoff told Bloomberg during an interview last month. According to Azoff, Live Nation is looking closely at Liberty's entire portfolio for opportunities and pointed to properties such as home-shopping channel QVC, Sirius XM Radio Inc. and premium cable channel Starz as potential areas of interest.
Bloomberg also reported that Azoff and Live Nation were exploring the potential of buying into more management companies and are considering investments in unspecified online ticketing startups.
A possible acquisition that Azoff did rule out was buying EMI Group Ltd. or Warner Music Group Corp., both of which are currently on the block. Azoff noted that Live Nation is not interested in the label business.
"Greg and I have been besieged by every bidder out there who’s interested in EMI and Warner," Azoff told Bloomberg. "The catalog of EMI and Warner is the best that ever existed. It’s not to be." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
