http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/business/media/live-nation-in-talks-to-buy-stake-in-c3-presents.html 2014-10-07 00:34:55 Live Nation in Talks to Buy Stake in C3 Presents, a Concert Promoter The deal, still not completed, would give Live Nation, a concert and ticket giant, a majority stake in C3, the largest independent promoter. === Live Nation The prospective deal, in negotiations for months but still not completed, would give Live Nation a stake of 51 percent in C3 Presents and value C3 at around $250 million, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. A spokeswoman for Live Nation declined to comment, and representatives of C3 did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon. C3, based in Austin, Tex., is run by three friends all named Charles or Charlie — in the music industry, they are widely known as “the Charlies” — and has grown quickly from its founding in 2007. Last year, it sold 2,025,002 tickets to its events, according to the concert industry trade publication Pollstar. The average price of a ticket is $69.52, according to Pollstar, putting C3’s likely gross ticket sales above $140 million. The company, which also controls concert venues in Austin and books performances at casinos around the country, is said to have earnings of about $20 million a year. Acquiring C3 would let Live Nation expand its already extensive festival portfolio, particularly when it comes to rock music. Over the last few years, Live Nation has built a network of many electronic dance music festivals, acquiring the dance promoters Cream, Hard and Insomniac. Lollapalooza, founded in 1991 as an alternative-rock package tour, has been held as a festival in Chicago since 2005, and has a long-term contract with the city. Lollapalooza has also expanded to Latin America, with events in Chile, Brazil and Argentina. C3 already has deep ties with Live Nation. It books many concerts for the House of Blues chain, which Live Nation owns, and Charlie Walker, one of C3’s three owners, is a former executive at Live Nation, with close ties to its chief executive, Michael Rapino. The other owners of C3 are Charles Attal and Charlie Jones.