Thursday, February 17, 2005

Major League Baseball Acquires Tickets.com

The Major League Baseball's Internet arm has acquired Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com in a deal worth $66M. MLB Advanced Media will pay $1.10 per share of stock of Tickets.com. The deal calls for MLB to provide advanced ticketing options to its 30 teams, and will be structured as a merger. Tickets.com provides online ticketing services to both sports teams as well as arts and entertainment venues, including Carnegie Hall and the NFL. MLBAM also said that it is in a deal with Tickets.com major stockholder, venture capital firm General Atlantic Partners, to acquire all of Ticket.com's Series G preferred, a majority of Series F preferred, and warrants for common stock held by General Atlantic. Bank of America and JPMorgan are funding the deal by providing a $125M line of credit; Perseus Advisors LLC is also involved in the deal as an advisor.