A group of Ticketmaster's shareholders have filed a class action lawsuit against the ticketing company through the LA courts, claiming that the share deal it's management negotiated with the board of live music conglom Live Nation, which it hopes to merge with of course, is "grossly inadequate".
As previously reported, under the merger deal Ticketmaster shareholders will receive 1.384 shares in the new Live Nation Entertainment company for each of their shares in the current ticketing firm.
But the disgruntled shareholders say that the deal is based on the ticketing giant's current value, which has slumped since the start of the economic downturn, and that the firm's directors have used the downturn as an excuse to get the merger deal they personally desire done, to the detriment of shareholders. Or something like that. The lawsuit seeks to block the merger.
As previously reported, Live Nation's biggest shareholder, Sam Shapiro of Shapiro Capital Management, has said he backs the deal, but is not happy with Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller becoming Non-Exec Chair of the merged company. Meanwhile US and European competition officials are reviewing the proposed merger to see if it complies with the two territories' respective competition rules.