The rumours were right, it seems. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the boards of Ticketmaster and Live Nation have approved an agreement to merge, with the new company thought to be named Live Nation Entertainment.The deal will create a genuine goliath of a company, covering ticket sales, venues and promotion, and management activities. One aspect of the deal is the two companies’ desire to make cost savings of up to $40 million, but the merger will face an intense anti-trust review, and is already attracting criticism from lawyers, artists and politicians.To push it through, Live Nation and Ticketmaster will need to convince the regulatory authorities that the merger is good for consumers. For more on the story, check what Reuters, the Financial Times and USA Today have to say.
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