Private-Equity Firms TPG and Rockbridge Are Exploring a Sale of Ticketing Company AXS
The firms hold a combined 62% of the company, while AEG holds the remaining 38%
Beyoncé performed during this year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Coachella is staged by sports and entertainment company AEG. PHOTO: KYLE GRILLOT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Private-equity firms TPG and Rockbridge Growth Equity are exploring strategic options for their stake in ticketing company AXS, including a possible sale, people familiar with the matter said.
The firms, which together hold 62% of the company, could seek a sale valuing AXS at $250 million, according to the people. Sports and entertainment company Anschutz Entertainment Group, which holds the remaining 38% in the ticketing company and operates it, said it isn’t interested in selling its stake. AEG is contractually guaranteed to be the operating partner of the company.
AEG hasn’t discussed buying out the private-equity partners, according to one of the people.
Rockbridge was founded by Dan Gilbert, co-owner of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, which uses AXS as a ticketing provider.
There is no guarantee there will be a deal, these people said.
Closely held AEG, controlled by billionaire Philip Anschutz, owns and operates venues including Staples Center in Los Angeles, New York’s PlayStation Theater, Target Center in Minneapolis and Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., and owns or co-owns sports teams including the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings and Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy. The company is also the nation’s second-largest concert promoter and stages the influential Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
AXS is much smaller than Ticketmaster, the industry leader owned by Live Nation Entertainment Inc.
ly bidders that could serve as strategic partners and would work in cooperation with AEG are being considered, the people said.
Veteran ticketing companies like Ticketmaster and AXS have been working to shore up their technology as newer, more tech-savvy and mobile-friendly competitors emerge. Adding to their challenges, the industry is moving toward a confluence of the primary and secondary markets—when tickets are sold the first time at face value versus when they are resold by a broker or fan, often at a markup.
AEG last week said it wouldn’t renew its contract with eBay Inc.’s StubHub and would instead turn to AXS as its preferred resale site in a move that roles the ticketing company’s digital-ticket technology to 30 of AEG’s venues and sports franchises in the U.S.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com, Miriam Gottfried at Miriam.Gottfried@wsj.com and Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com
Appeared in the September 17, 2018, print edition as 'Investors Weigh Sale Of Stakes In Ticketer.'
