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Business News Deals Marketing & PR
Azoff buys comedy promoter
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 11 June 2014
Possibly or possibly not now in a competition to acquire more companies than Robert FX Sillerman before summer is out, Irving Azoff is buying yet another business via his Azoff MSG Entertainment firm, the previously reported joint venture between the former Live Nation top man and the Madison Square Garden Company.
Following recent deals to take a 50% stake in marketing firm Pop2Life and brand partnerships agency Burns, Azoff is now buying half of comedy promoter and producer the Levity Entertainment Group. Levity books and promotes comedy shows across the US, runs its own network of comedy clubs and produces comedy content for TV and online.
Confirming the deal, Levity CEO Robert Hartmann told reporters: “The partnership with AMSGE brings us a wealth of resources and relationships that will further allow us to grow our clients’ careers and our overall business. There is only one Irving – his knowledge and experience is unprecedented. I also happen to think he has a promising future as a stand up”.
Kicking off that new career, Azoff took to the mic and joked: “We are thrilled to have LEG join the AMSGE family. Robert Hartmann [and his team] have built a unique ecosystem to identify talent and provide them with career and content opportunities that extend across multiple distribution platforms worldwide”.
Yeah, probably needs a bit more work Irving. Though that bit about “building a unique ecosystem” has definite potential.
