TM Acquires Front Gate, Universe

AXS/Outbox Technologies, which held a 50 percent stake in Front Gate, sold its share to Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, a source with knowledge of the transaction told Pollstar.

The acquisitions will allow Live Nation to greatly expand services in the festival and event markets, “while accelerating its strategy to provide its clients across all verticals with the largest and most flexible distribution network through which to engage fans and sell tickets,” according to a Ticketmaster statement.

“Ticketmaster provides the world’s largest ticketing marketplace, connecting over 450 million fans with their favorite artists and other live events year,” Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino said. “Front Gate and Universe have built innovative platforms for their respective verticals, and combined with Ticketmaster’s marketing and distribution capabilities we will be able to deliver the best experience for even more fans and artists.

“The companies continue to build on our commitment to provide the best solution for each segment of the ticketing landscape, combining the specific needs for each occasion with the power of our global marketplace.”

Front Gate Tickets was founded in 2003 and its clients include Coachella, Austin City Limits Festival, Electric Forest, The Governors Ball Music Festival, Lollapalooza, RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest and X Games, among others.

Front Gate is also an innovator in RFID-equipped access control, cashless POS systems and experiential marketing. Last year, Front Gate processed more than $300 million in sales, sold more than 3 million tickets, shipped more than 1 million wristbands and scanned more than 2.5 million RFID chips, according to Ticketmaster.

Universe is a DIY ticketing company that provides marketing management tools whose ticket-sales platform allows event organizers to embed a customizable Buy Now button to sell tickets on any website with no redirect. The company has a global reach of thousands of event organizers, according to Ticketmaster, and saw a seven-fold sales increase.