LOS ANGELES, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Ticketmaster, the world's leading
ticketing company, announced today that it has acquired BiljettDirekt Ticnet
AB, the largest live event ticketing company in Sweden.
BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB, created in 2001 as a merger between BiljettDirekt
and Ticnet, has been servicing Swedish clients and customers with ticketing
solutions for sports, concerts, theatre, festivals and more as well as
distribution of travel tickets since 1997. BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB,
headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has sold nearly 15 million tickets
annually for many leading Scandinavian event producers, arenas, theatres and
sports clubs in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The acquisition of BiljettDirekt
Ticnet AB follows Ticketmaster's recent expansions into Norway and Denmark and
positions Ticketmaster as the market leader in Scandinavia. Ticketmaster's
European ticketing operations now include England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands in addition to Sweden.
"BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB is a strong business, with strong growth
potential, and we are pleased to welcome promoters and venues in Sweden to our
growing family of international clients," said Paul LaFontaine, vice president
of European Business Development, Ticketmaster. "Ticketmaster's singular
focus is being the best ticketing service in Europe, and we look forward to
introducing new services and features that allow ever increasing flexibility
for clients and added convenience for consumers."
By combining Ticketmaster's wide array of technology solutions and
ticketing services with BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB's client relationships and
ticketing solutions, Ticketmaster plans to provide clients and consumers
throughout Sweden with broad and convenient access to live entertainment
tickets. Ticketmaster is acquiring BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB from AB Trav och
Galopp, SI Foretagstjanster Holding AB, SJ AB, and Silja Line AB. The Company
will continue to operate in Sweden as BiljettDirekt Ticnet and in Norway under
Ticnet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to join the industry leader, and believe Ticketmaster's
expertise in the ticketing business will provide our clients with the very
best solutions to grow their businesses," said Mats Brandt, CEO of
BiljettDirekt Ticnet AB. "We look forward to putting the full complement of
Ticketmaster's resources to work for our clients and consumers."
About Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster, the world's leading ticketing company, sold 100 million
tickets valued at $4.9 billion in 2003, through http://www.ticketmaster.com, one of
the largest e-commerce sites on the Internet, more than 3,300 retail Ticket
Center outlets and 19 worldwide telephone call centers. Ticketmaster serves
more than 8,000 clients worldwide and acts as the exclusive ticketing service
for hundreds of leading arenas, stadiums, performing arts venues, and theaters
and is the official ticketing provider and supporter of the Athens 2004
Olympic Games. Ticketmaster is headquartered in West Hollywood, California
and is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI).
For more information contact: Kandus Simpson of Ticketmaster,
+1-310-360-2321.
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