The stocks of both Ticketmaster and Live Nation bounced in the right direction after news surfaced that the entertainment giants were in talks to put their eggs in one, massively huge, customer squashing basket. The ten percent gain for Live Nation and fifteen percent gain for Ticketmaster may be short-lived, however, as analysts are wondering how the proposed Live Nation Ticketmaster would not constitute a monopoly. Another concern being raised is the conflict of interest inherent in having talent, ticketing, and promotion under the same umbrella. While this will undoubtedly make for some sticky situations, it seems to pale in comparison with Ticketmaster having to explain the merger to all of Live Nation's competitors for whom they provided ticketing. Somebody dust off Eddie Vedder's plan for circumventing Ticketmaster, quick! [Coolfer]
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I'd be surprised if this deal gets approved.
Good. I'm running out of evil, planet eating cartoon characters.