Live Nation Said to Bid for Warner Music Group

Live Nation Entertainment, the concert and ticketing giant created by the merger of Ticketmaster and the promoter Live Nation, has emerged as a bidder for the Warner Music Group, according to a person apprised of the bidding who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the process was intended to be confidential.

Live Nation’s chairman is Irving L. Azoff, whose long history in the music business includes a stint as chairman of MCA Records. He also controls Front Line Management, which manages the careers of more than 200 acts, including the Eagles and Christina Aguilera. If Live Nation succeeds in its bid for Warner Music, the third-largest of the four major record companies, it would control a vast supply chain that could potentially make Live Nation the management, record company, merchandiser, concert promoter and ticketing service, all for the same act. That would likely pose a regulatory challenge for the company, whose merger with Ticketmaster was investigated by the Department of Justice Department for nearly a year.