Ticketmaster Debuts on Nasdaq

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Shares of newly spun-off Ticketmaster rose nearly 7 percent on Thursday on the first day the West Hollywood-based ticketing service began independent trading on the Nasdaq.

Shares of Ticketmaster ended the day up $1.45, or 6.7 percent, to $23.09, giving the company a $1.56 billion market cap. Trading volume was 4.3 million shares on 72 shares outstanding.

Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActive earlier spun off Ticketmaster and three other units: the HSN Inc., a TV and online shopping network; Tree.com Inc., which operates the online lender LendingTree; and Interval Inc., a time-share vacation planning service.

IAC continues to own Ask.com, Match.com and other Internet properties.

Taking Ticketmaster public comes at a time when the nation’s largest seller of tickets to concerts and sporting events is about to lose its largest customer, concert promoter Live Nation Inc., whose contract ends in December. Tickets sold at Live Nation events account for an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of Ticketmaster’s revenue, according to analysts.

Los Angeles-based Live Nation plans to launch a rival online ticketing service with a partner. Both Ticketmaster and Live Nation have ambitious plans to grow their international businesses.

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