Moriarty Out At TM

Ticketmaster President/CEO Sean Moriarty has left the company and resigned his seat on the company’s board of directors effective immediately, TM announced March 30.

Moriarty’s departure was not unexpected and had been rumored to be imminent for several weeks.

He was an early member of the original Citysearch tech team and served Ticketmaster’s predecessor, Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, as director of Internet systems. Moriarty was named exec VP of product and technology in 2000, bumped to COO in 2004, added the president title in 2005 and became CEO in 2007.

“I’ll always be grateful for my time spent at Ticketmaster with its truly outstanding people and I wish the company every success in the future,” Moriarty said in a statement.
Ticketmaster and Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management merged to create Ticketmaster Entertainment in 2008. When Azoff was named CEO of the new entity, Moriarity’s future with TM became clouded – and even more so in February when TME and Live Nation announced their intentions to merge.

During his tenure with the ticketing giant, Ticketmaster grew to be the industry’s 600-pound gorilla. It acquired companies including TicketsNow and Emma Entertainment, China’s leading concert promoter and ticketing agency, and invested in businesses such as iLike and Echo Music.

“Sean’s passion for the company and its people has been profound and his leadership, particularly driving product and technology innovation, has led Ticketmaster’s transformation into a major global e-commerce player and created the foundation for Ticketmaster Entertainment to further transform live entertainment,” Azoff said in a statement.

Ticketmaster Entertainment Chairman Barry Diller added, “Sean’s contribution to Ticketmaster in various management roles over time, including his role as president and CEO, has helped make Ticketmaster the great organization that it is today.

“While we will miss Sean’s leadership and vision, we are confident that the management team in place, led by Irving Azoff, will help Ticketmaster to continue to grow and prosper.”