Live Nation yesterday announced fourth quarter revenues for 2006 were up 39.8% on 2005 - up $299.7 million to $1.05 billion - though the company still recorded an overall loss of $33.1 million for the period. Those figures mean that in its first year of trading as an independent entity apart from the Clear Channel media company, the live music conglom saw full year revenues rise from $2.94 million to $3.96 million, but with overall losses of $31.4 million.
Despite the overall loss, there seem to be smiles in the upper echelons of Live Nation, and those figures do seem to have been well received by financial circles, coming as they do at the end of a year of concentration and expansion at Live Nation - with the firm concentrating on the live music sector, and continuing to acquire businesses in that sector to guarantee themselves market leader status in the global live industry.
Commenting on the last financial year, the company's CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement: "We began 2006 as a broad-based live entertainment company with a vision to transform ourselves into a global vertically integrated live music company. Since then, we successfully moved Live Nation closer to our goal by (i) beginning to shed non-core businesses such as our sports representation business and Las Vegas productions and announcing the plan to divest selected non-core venues and our North American theatrical business, (ii) aggressively expanding our live music platform by acquiring House of Blues, CPI and entering new top tier global music markets and (iii) extending our capabilities to provide additional goods and services surrounding live music events by establishing livenation.com and acquiring majority stakes in companies such as Musictoday and TRUNK. Now, at the beginning of 2007, I can say we are focused on live music with the tools to execute on our strategy to become a global vertically integrated music company, connecting artists and fans through the live concert experience".