Ticketmaster to buy majority of Front Line Management: report

(Reuters) - Ticketmaster Inc agreed to acquire a majority interest in Front Line Management Inc and install its head Irving Azoff as chief executive of the combined company, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

The combined entity called Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc would handle the affairs some of the world's biggest singers and musicians, including Christina Aguilera, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett and Neil Diamond, the paper said.

Ticketmaster's current management, led by Chief Executive Sean Moriarty, is to report to Azoff, who is also to continue overseeing Front Line, the paper said.

"Ticketmaster is obviously going to expand in the things that it does, in the areas that it provides services, and having it led by the force that is Irving Azoff gives Ticketmaster a really good chance to continue to be successful," Barry Diller, chief executive of IAC and chairman of Ticketmaster, told the paper in an interview.

The company already owns a minority interest in Front Line, which it inherited from the spin off of former parent IAC/InterActiveCorp in August.

To attain a majority in Front Line, Ticketmaster is to pay about $123 million to Warner Music Group Corp for the roughly 30 percent stake that Warner has owned since last year, the Journal said.

Ticketmaster faces competition from its long-time client, concert promoter Live Nation, which is ending their partnership to enter the primary ticket sales market next year and is looking closely at the resale market as well.

Ticketmaster did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by David Holmes)