Live Nation to Acquire Musictoday in Attempt to Round Out its Business

Excerpt from our One Page Annotated Wall Street Journal Summary (receive it by email every morning by signing up here):

Live Nation to Buy Major Stake In Fan-Club Firm Musictoday

• Summary: Live Nation (LYV), formerly Clear Chanel Entertainment, a break away last year from Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU), will announce today that they have acquired a majority stake in Musictoday LLC, which runs fan clubs, Web sites, online stores and other services for hundreds of acts, including the Rolling Stones and Eminem. Last year Live Nation reported a net loss of $130 million on total revenue of $2.9 billion; since then the company has been searching for new revenue streams, as the price of signing musical acts to tour grows increasingly expensive. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino see the Musictoday acquisition as adding to his company's allure as a "central point of contact" for all kinds of transactions between musicians and fans, perhaps most significantly, offering early ticket access and merchandise to fan club members before such items go on sale to the general public.
• Comment on related stocks/ETFs: Musictoday is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Live Nation, which is already the world's largest concert promotion company. Just this month, Live Nation has announced two other large acquisitions: The company picked up House of Blues Entertainment in early July as well as a majority stake in Trunk Ltd., a merchandising company on July 12.