Live Nation Inc. announced details of its planned $575 million all-stock acquisition of Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., a deal valued at $2.5 billion that would merge two giants in the ticketing and concert promotion business.

The deal announced late Tuesday morning, which the companies called a “merger of equals”, will create a company with an enterprise value of $2.5 billion including debt. The merger is expected to face tough antitrust scrutiny because it would concentrate so much power in the music industry under one company.

Live Nation is based in Beverly Hills. Ticketmaster is nearby in West Hollywood.

The new entity, to be known as Live Nation Entertainment Inc., will be run on a day-to-day basis Michael Rapino as president and chief executive, the Wall Street Journal said. Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller will hold that post at the combined company while Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff will be executive chairman. Each company will get seven directors on the combined board.

Under the deal, Ticketmaster shareholders will receive 1.384 shares of Live Nation common stock for each share of Ticketmaster they own. That values each share of Ticketmaster at $7.32 each, an 11 percent premium to Monday’s closing price. Shareholders of each company will own nearly half of the combined company’s stock.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer slammed the deal ahead of its formal announcement, calling for a federal probe into Ticketmaster, which is the largest U.S. ticket vendor.

“This merger would give a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concert-goers and the prices they pay to see their favorite artists and bands,” the Democrat senator from New York said, according to Reuters.

–

Read the full

Wall Street Journal

story (subscription required).

–

Read the full

Reuters

story.