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Business News Live Business
Ticketmaster posts billion dollar loss – though mainly because of asset revaluation
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 20 March 2009
Ticketmaster posted an on paper loss of over $1 billion for the last quarter of 2008 according to an official financial report published yesterday, though it should be added that that was mainly to do with the application of an “impairment charge” that seriously down-graded the value of the ticketing giant’s assets, a revaluation forced by the impact of the general economic downturn, in particular on the firm’s share price. The loss works out at $18.82 per share.
If you take the accounting technicalities out of the equation, the ticketing firm’s figures aren’t exactly rosey, but did show a profit of $9.9 million. That’s down 81%. The cost of some big acquisitions presumably contributed to the profit fall, though the result of those purchases could also be seen in the firm’s revenues in a more positive light, they were up 9%.
Ticketmaster chiefs will presumably argue that their acquisitions, which have generally diversified the company’s operations, including the move into artist management through the purchase of Frontline Management, are justified by the latest financial report. The numbers of tickets sold, and ticket revenues, were both down, but overall revenues were up. The value of such diversification is also a major part of the Ticketmaster board’s argument for the merger with Live Nation of course.
