Report: Clear Channel submits top offer for House of Blues

Clear Channel Entertainment, by far the country’s largest concert promoter, reportedly has submitted the high bid to purchase its top competitor.

Clear Channel Entertainment, by far the country’s largest concert promoter, reportedly has submitted the high bid to purchase its top competitor.

Denver’s Rocky Mountain News reported on Friday (4/12) that Clear Channel’s bid to purchase the House of Blues clubs and concert-promotions business could be approved by HOB’s board later this month.



Clear Channel’s offer--said to be well over $200 million--reportedly bested bids by Concerts West, which is headed by Denver billionaire Phil Anschultz, and Key3Media Group, led by former Ticketmaster exec Fred Rosen. The deal is said to include a clause that would force Clear Channel to pay HOB millions if the purchase falls through.



According to concert industry trade publication Pollstar, Clear Channel sold more than 27 million tickets to its North American concerts in 2001. House of Blues concerts was second, selling about 3.8 million tickets.



Currently, Clear Channel operates and/or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues, including 41 amphitheaters in the U.S. and 30 venues in Europe. House of Blues Concerts owns, operates or exclusively books 20 arena and amphitheater venues throughout North America, and also owns eight House of Blues clubs.



In addition to its concert-industry pursuits, Clear Channel operates about 1,225 radio stations and 37 television stations in the U.S., and commands a network of 776,000 billboards.



Last August, Denver-based concert promoter Nobody in Particular Presents filed an anti-trust suit against Clear Channel, accusing the company of “monopolistic and predatory practices.” A month earlier, Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-N.J.) asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to look into Clear Channel’s business practices after complaints from concert promoters in his state.

Posted by on 04/11 at 10:00 PM

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