Live Nation is looking at a huge deal that would give it a majority share in C3 Presents, one of the nation's largest concert promoters, according to The New York Times. Among the biggest names in the C3 lineup are Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.
Neither of the companies involved in the deal would make a comment to the newspaper, but The Times reports that Live Nation would acquire 51 percent of the shares in C3, valuing the company at $250 million. Although Live Nation has a huge chunk of the market when it comes to tickets, owning Ticketmaster, it could use some help getting steady in the rock festival world. It acquired EDM-based promoters Hard and Insomniac during the last few years, but the addition of events such as Lollapalooza would be a coup.
C3 already had a working relationship with Live Nation. The former also books concerts for casinos and venues around the nation, including the House of blues franchise, also owned by Live Nation. C3 sold more than 2 million tickets last year for all of its events, including Lollapallooza (check out Music Times' coverage of this year's event) and the company's hometown Austin City Limits with gross sales of around $124 million.
C3 also runs its own ticketing service, Front Gate Tickets, but reports haven't indicated whether or not Ticket Master will opt to keep the service.
UPDATE: Charles Attal, one of the three "c's" in C3, wouldn't comment on the New York Times article other than to say it was "inaccurate," according to BizJournals.net. What details were inaccurate remain to be seen. Stay tuned.
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