Lives Nations Reports Another Loss

The Machine

Despite beating their ticket sales target by more than 1 million tickets, Live Nation reported a loss of $27.2 million, or 33 cents per share, in Q2. The company blamedforeign exchange rates, and a decrease in international business related to the divestiture of F&P Italia.

Upbeat items were a reported $26.8 million bump in revenue from the acquisition of De-Luxe and Fantasma. The promoter also saw a $12.9 million increase in ticketing due to higher revenue from the launch of our new ticketing platform and related sponsorship revenue. Sponsorship partners fell by 7.8% but sponsorship related revenue stayed flat from the same period last year.

During a conference call with investors, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino remained upbeat, saying that the artists contracted with 360 deals had performed well beyond their expectations and noting that the live music sector had remained surprisingly strong despite the recession.

Rapino was less upbeat on the notion of festivals and cited significant losses in last year's Pemberton festival. "We are not robust on the idea of festivals as a growth opportunity in North America." Rapino said.

Little mention was made during the call of the proposed merger with Ticketmaster Entertainment. When asked by a caller when they expected the merger to complete, Rapino noted that they were still undergoing review by the Department of Justice and that they expected to "finalize out within 45-60 days." (via CelebrityAccess)