As of Tuesday morning, Ticketmaster and Live Nation confirmed their intended merger. The new company, named Live Nation Entertainment, would be headed by Michael Rapino, Live Nation CEO.
Ticketmaster Chairman, Barry Diller, spoke up immediately on behalf of the honest intentions of the company. Both companies claim the mixture of economic turmoil and everlasting music industry profit barriers sparked the interest in combining the powers of two competing companies. As reported by Pollstar.com, they will be able to better withstand the shocks ahead as well as, "improve service to fans by bringing together their [Live Nation and Ticketmaster's] expertise in promotions and ticketing."
Many politicians have already spoken up on behalf of the necessary investigation, including Charles Schumer (NY-D) and Bill Pascrell (NJ-D). It will be even more difficult for the merger to easily slide through investigation as President Obama emphasized his increasing care toward all matters anti-trust during his campaign. As reported by Coolfer, he commented on the elimination of competition in a speech to the American Antitrust Institute in 2007:
When it works well, capitalism is great for consumers. Firms compete to cut prices and improve the customer experience, and consumers have plenty of alternatives, so they are not vulnerable to corporate greed or incompetence. Most of the time, American business enthusiastically participates in this win-win system.
Antitrust helps to keep that system in force. It addresses the temptation that some businesses will sometimes experience, to merge with key rivals instead of outperforming them, to agree not to compete too hard, or to sabotage rivals’ efforts to serve consumers instead of redoubling their own."
Ticketmaster and Live Nation claim the merger will save $40 million a year. Forbes announce both company's stock prices fell before the deal was confirmed.