Irving Azoff's Exit: The Invisible Hand of John Malone

The exit of veteran music manager Irving Azoff as executive chairman at Live Nationcomes two months after another media veteran, Mel Karmazin, stepped down as chairman and CEO of SiriusXM Satellite Radio. 
  
The person they have in common? 
  
Veteran media investor John Malone, who in the last few years had become, respectively, each company's largest individual shareholder. 
  
Liberty Media's highly desirable A shares have been skyrocketing since the end of May when they were selling for $82.34. On Dec. 31, the day Liberty acquired Azoff's shares in Live Nation, it closed at $116.01. 

With the legendary risk taker Malone in an even stronger position, Live Nation may finally become the Wall Street darling its architects envisioned when it split off from Clear Channel in December 2005. An entrepreneur at heart, Azoff made no secret of the fact he did not enjoy running a public company.

Irving Azoff on Leaving Live Nation, What's Next, and Why He Regrets Ticketmaster Merger

Liberty Media, one of Live Nation's largest shareholders prior its acquisition of Azoff's 1.7 million shares, will now have a 26.4 percent stake in the concert, ticketing and management behemoth. In 2011, Liberty Media A shares roses 54%, and in December financial analysts stated it continues to trade at significant high multiples compared with S&P 500 companies.

Business Matters: Rumors Heat Up That Liberty Media Will Buy Out Live Nation

Could Live Nation, which has bounced between $8 and $11 over the last 52 weeks, finally see the stock price rise to levels expected when the merger was struck? Malone is always unemotional about achieving his return on investment, sometimes through very complex financial engineering. His recent interest in the music space will be no different.

Live Nation Would Benefit From Going Private: John Malone

Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei told Billboard in November, "We think the music space is a great space and there will always be an enduring interest in music."

But arguably the interest in music is coincidental rather than strategic. The bigger picture for Malone and his lieutenant Maffei is that both Sirius and Live Nation (post-merger) are near-monopolies in their respective markets. In fact, Sirius has no U.S. competitor in satellite radio. And Live Nation is the strong market leader of a duopoly with AEG in live promotions, while Ticketmaster is completely dominant in its space.

This is the attraction to the man who made his wealth inventing regional cable TV monopolies from scratch.

Sirius, with Liberty owning 49.77 percent, and Live Nation "have found interesting ways to grow. Just because music is popular doesn't always mean it's possible to make money from it," he said.
 
Malone has been bullish on Live Nation since its merger with Ticketmaster, purchasing 34.5 million shares of Live Nation Entertainment the day after the merger was approved in 2010. At the time, Liberty held a 30% stake in Ticketmaster, which dropped to 15% after the merger.
 
But last year Malone also supported the idea of taking the company private as its shares underperformed, with the business struggling through a weak economy that kept fans from attending some bigger events.
 
And, to be clear, Azoff is still going to be working with Malone in some capacity. He will be on the board of Malone's soon-to-be spun-off cable network Starz. Azoff confirmed to Billboard he will still be joining the board and said he had enjoyed working with Liberty Media.

Indeed, if Azoff is ever looking for financing for expanding any of his proposed new ventures beyond music, he could always turn to Malone.
 
Malone built a fortune in his cable television company TCI, selling it to AT&T for $54 billion in 1999. A master at acquisitions -- he is the largest land owner in the U.S. - he has battled with the like of former Vice President Al Gore, Viacom's Sumner Redstone and the man with whom is most closely associated (sometimes as friend and others as an enemy), Barry Diller, the man who handed over the reins at Ticketmaster to Azoff.

Less than three weeks ago, Malone's Liberty Interactive purchased Diller's 4.8 million shares inTripAdvisor, the nation's largest travel advisory site. In some ways the Live Nation deal feels like history repeating: Diller's Citysearch concept in the 1990s owed to the combination of consumers desiring tickets and travel destination information.
 
While Malone has publicly stated that the sports industry is out of control in terms of costs, Liberty is interested in looking at some of the holdings within Phil Anschutz's Anschutz Entertainment Group, whose assets include Los Angeles' Staples Center and AEG Live, the No.2 live entertainment business after Live Nation.
 
"Phil Anschutz has built a very interesting portfolio of businesses and assets, some of which fit in with our existing businesses," Maffei said. "But I'm not sure if we'll have the ability or rather be allowed to buy some of those assets that fit in with Live Nation, because of the regulatory scrutiny which it already faced during the Ticketmaster merger."

GAME OPENS UP ABOUT 40 GLOCC BEEF: "I DIDN'T THINK HE WAS GONNA SUE"

The Wall Street Journal got all Barbara Walters on the Game during a recent sit down with theJesus Piece rapper. The WSJ had questions about Game's beef with 40 Glocc, and, more specifically wanted to know why he beat up the G-Unit rapper with one hand while videotaping the altercation with the other, and later posted it to YouTube. 40 Glocc is now suing the Game.

"...Let's just take the Glocc and 40 out of his name, cause it doesn't make sense," started the Game. "That's like a real nerdy guy being called Bazooka. It doesn't make sense."

"He, for some reason, one day, woke up and brushed his teeth and felt like he wanted to say something about me," says Game about how the alleged beef started. Game claims he was tired of 40 Glocc always showing up uninvited to music video shoots and harassing people, but when 40 Glocc made a Twitter page in the alias of Game's young son, that was the last straw.

"You can do whatever you want to me: rap about me; you can shoot me; kill me; stab me; it doesn't matter. You talk about my kids, that's when it gets really real," explained Game. He then goes into detail about the day that infamous video came to fruition. "I didn't think he was gonna sue," adds Game. 

'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' Wins Monday Night, Draws Most Viewers Since 2000

ABC took another New Year's Eve ratings crown on Monday night, besting all networks in adults 18-49 (3.1 rating) and total viewers (10.7 million). After the two-hour special honoring the show's founder, "New Year's Rockin' Eve Celebrates Dick Clark" (2.6 adults), the first hour of the official show, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest," started its road to midnight with a 4.1 adults rating. Even with its 2011 showing in the demo, the show surged in total viewers from last year with its largest haul since 2000 (13.3 million viewers).

The "Rockin' Eve" show was the first since Clark's passing from a heart attack in April.

New Year's Eve Without Dick Clark: Ryan Seacrest, 'Rockin' Eve' Execs Reflect

ABC easily topped the evening, more than doubling its nearest competition, CBS, in total viewers, and beating its combined network competition by 15% in adults 18-49 (CBS, NBC and Fox combined).

'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2013': A Special Backstage Preview With Producer Larry Klein

Elsewhere, "New Year's Eve With Carson Daly" was up two tenths of a point in the key demo, rising from last year to a 1.1 adults rating on NBC. Including its broadcast of "Enchanted," the network averaged a 0.9 with 18-49-ers and 3.3 million viewers.

Encores on CBS averaged a 0.8 adults rating and 4 million viewers, while two episodes of "The Mob Doctor" brought in a 0.6 and 0.4 adults rating at 8 and 9 p.m. The two broadcasts averaged a 0.5 adults rating and 2.95 million viewers.

The CW's repeat airing of the "iHeartRadio Music Festival" earned a 0.5 rating with adults 18-4 9 and 1.3 million viewers.

'TRAINING DAY' DIRECTOR IGNORES SPIKE LEE BASHING, DEFENDS "DJANGO" N-WORD USAGE

Moviemaker Antoine Fuqua has stepped up and come to the defense of fellow director Quentin Tarantino's new Django Unchained box office hit amid dicey remarks from Spike Lee over its controversial N-word usage.

Although he can respect Spike's stance, Fuqua said the renowned Hollywood director chose the wrong way to get his point across.

"That's just not the way you do things," said Fuqua, speaking on the sidelines of the 17th Capri, Hollywood Film Festival. "If you disagree with the way a colleague did something, call him up, invite him out for a coffee, talk about it. But don't do it publicly." "I don't think Quentin Tarantino has a racist bone in his body," he said. "Besides, I'm good friends with [Django Unchained star]Jamie Foxx and he wouldn't have anything to do with a film that had anything racist to it." (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Training Day director also said the movie's context supported Tarantino's usage of the controversial word.

Fuqua continued: "I haven't seen the film, so I can't speak about it specifically, but we're supposed to find some truth in films and if you set a film in the 1850s, you're going to hear the word 'n****r,' because that's the way they spoke then, and you're going to discuss slavery because that was part of the reality," he said. "I want my kids to hear those kinds of words in the right context, so that they'll know that language is not OK," Fuqua said. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Despite Fuqua's support, comedian Katt Williams shared a different sentiment a few days ago.

In between getting out of jail and getting in the middle of a parking lot brawl, Katt Williams took the time to talk to TMZ about "Django Unchained" ... and threatened to beat the crap out of Quentin Tarantino if he gets the chance. Williams didn't voice his opinion in a polite way like Spike Lee did. First he threatened to punch QT in the face, then told us, "Quentin Tarantino thinks he can say the N-word. But I checked with all of Ni**adom and nobody knows where he got his pass from. I hope he didn't get it from Samuel L. Jackson and Jamie Foxx cause they aren't going to help you when I see you." (TMZ)

Lee initially hopped onto Twitter to air out his issues with Tarantino's latest flick.

"American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves.Stolen From Africa.I Will Honor Them.," he tweeted. (Spike Lee's Twitter)

TRINIDAD JAMES BEING SUED BY 'MARTIN' CREATOR FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT?

The outrageous rumor that rapper Trinidad James was being sued by the creators of the '90s sitcom Martin began swirling on Dec. 20. The show's creator "Gerald Levin" was supposedly filing a $5 million lawsuit against James for infringing the show's pimp-tastic character Jerome Rome. One problem, IMBD lists the shows creators as Martin Lawrence, John Bowman and Topper Carew.

"Gold chains, gold rings, and rotten teeth, that’s Jerome!!" Levin was quoted saying. "…Martin created that."

The quote surfaced on a random blog. It seems people's nostalgia for Martin has gotten the better of them as a document proving that said lawsuit is actually legit has yet to surface.

James, who signed a recent reported $2 million deal with Def Jam, does bear some hilarious uncanny similarities to the pimp-inspired character. Both speak with a raspy, gruff voice and don some gold jewelry. James, whose breakthrough track is titled "All Gold Everything," also sports a gold grill on his teeth. However, we'll vouch for James' true identity. Check out side-by-side videos of Martin Lawrence as Jerome and Trinidad James as himself below, and judge for yourself.

trinidad james, Trinidad James Martin Lawrence, Martin tv show, Trinidad James Martin

Irving Azoff on Leaving Live Nation, What's Next, and Why He Regrets Ticketmaster Merger

Just hours after Irving Azoff's departure from Live Nation was confirmed, Billboard's Ray Waddell caught up with him over the phone from Mexico, where Azoff's family is vacationing with Don Henley's family. In this conversation, Azoff explains why he's leaving (especially on New Year's Eve), who he's taking with him, and why merging with Ticketmaster was both a highlight and a regret.

Billboard Power 100: Irving Azoff

Irving Azoff: Sorry to f--- up your New Year's, Ray.
 
Billboard: I thought that was the motivation for announcing today.
 
A: It wasn't to f--- up New Year's, it was to pay [taxes] on 2012 rates rather than 2013.
 
Q: Something like this would seem to have been in the works for quite a while.
 
A: It came down very quickly. We had a board meeting on Dec. 10 and we got it done by last night. Really, all it was about was it was time for me not to work for a public company. That's all.
 
Q: Still, you had voiced a lot of confidence in what Live Nation can do.
 
A: There's no animosity between me and [CEO Michael] Rapino or anybody at the company whatsoever. He was a great partner, no problems there, none of that. It was just the frustration with working at a public company. We had a board that was afraid to do things because of the Treasury, institutional shareholders, people writing you letters, everybody complaining about you and your people making too much money, you can't do this, you can't do that, everybody has to be on the same e-mail address. Sh-- like that just drove me crazy.
 
Q: But you will remain a manager.
 
A: I am going to remain a manager, although not to the scale that I was. I'm going to look to do other things in the business. I love the representation business, I'd like to maybe expand that beyond just music. But [Live Nation] were kind enough to work out a way for me to exit my contract early and still work with the people who are my friends, that I love and work with every day. That's people like the Eagles, Van Halen, Steely Dan, and Christina [Aguilera], the people you'd expect to be on that list.
 
Q: Will there be a new management company?
 
A: It's my old management company -- Azoffmusic Management continues on. That was the unit that I personally ran and that's the unit I left with. [Azoffmusic staffers] Susan Markheim, Damian Smith, Tina Kennedy, Karim Karmi, Adam Flick, Allison Statter and Richard Palmese are the staff there.
 
Q: Will you be signing new artists, developing or otherwise?
 
A: It's too early to predict right now. Right now, Tina Kennedy and I are going to work on Cassadee Pope, the lady that won "The Voice," but it's kind of too early to predict anything else.
 
Q: So what's interesting to you, what would be fun?
 
A: It's so new. I'd love to talk to you in four to six weeks into my new life. The phones are ringing, but I have no idea yet. It all happened so quickly that I haven't really had a chance to take stock, see what's out there and what I want to do.

Video: Irving Azoff's Keynote Q&A at 2012 Billboard Touring Conference

Q: But your not going to just go play golf, are you?
 
A: F--- no! The main reason I'm not going to just go play golf is I don't play well enough. I always say if my job was this hard I would quit. Golf is too f---in' hard for me to play any more golf.
 
Q: What can you say about Liberty Media's strategic goal, in your view, as an observer, now?
 
A: Liberty has a long-term commitment to the company. I think they believe in the long-term prognosis of the technology and the prospects of Ticketmaster. They're in for the long run.
 
Q: What can you say about the vacant chairman's spot?
 
A: I don't have a right to comment on that.
 
Q: Would you say that being in a public company chafed against your entrepreneurial spirit?
 
A: To me it was smothering. All I can say is public company life to me was smothering. This was not about people, it was about public company process, in the end. That's the most honest appraisal about why I wanted to leave.
 
Q: What about your other boardships?
 
A: IMG is a private company. Clear Channel is a mostly private company. I'm going to stay on those boards, and I'm also going to go on the Starz board, because Liberty asked me to. They've been a great partner to me and because Liberty asked me to I'm going to do that.
 
Q: What was your highlight at Live Nation Entertainment?
 
A: The highlight was getting the [Ticketmaster/Live Nation] merger done. And, by the way, Ticketmaster's renewal rate is incredible, Ticketmaster has done unbelievably well since the merger and I'm real proud of that.
 
Q: Any other highlights?
 
A: No, not really.
 
Q: Regrets?
 
A: The sad part is I would have preferred to have purchased all of Front Line and kept the whole team together, because I dearly love all the artists and other managers at Front Line. But it just didn't make any sense, there was no way to get that deal done.
 
Q: Did the roll up of Front Line management companies play out as you hoped?
 
A: If I had it to do over again I never would have merged with Ticketmaster.
 
Q: Why not?
 
A: Because further down the line I ended up in a situation where I had to break up Front Line because I merged with a public company and now I can't figure out a way to buy it back. If you ask me what my biggest disappointment was, it's that I made a decision to merge with Ticketmaster. I really wish we would have kept it a pure management play. That's my biggest regret.
 
Q: Had you done that, what would have been the end game? Would you still be running Front Line?
 
A: I think so. Financially, it was a hugely successful move for lots of managers. I didn't totally make that decision, the whole group of us did. But at the end of the day, if I could wind back the clock, that's the one regret I've got.
 
Q: What's the immediate future? What are you doing tonight?
 
A: I'm at my villa in Cabo at the El Dorado Beach & Golf Club. The Azoffs are spending New Year's with the Henley family. We're going to go down to the restaurant called the Palapa here at the club and have a nice dinner.

KIM KARDASHIAN & KANYE WEST BABY'S HOLLYWOOD CAREER ALREADY IN MOTION

Mother-to-be Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will reportedly document the birth of their unborn child as reports claim coverage of the journey to parenthood has already started.

Although details are still slim, E! president Suzanne Kolb has hinted at the televised excitement being on deck.

Reality superstar Kim Kardashian is expecting her first child with rapper Kanye West -- he made the surprise announcement during a Dec. 30 concert in Atlantic City -- and plans to document her journey on the network. "Kim and Kanye are an incredibly dynamic couple, and their baby news is just so exciting," E! president Suzanne Kolb tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. "Like so many Kardashian fans, we love it when this close-knit family gets even bigger. We look forward to sharing the joy as they prepare for more diapers, more bottle and without a doubt, more fabulous baby wear." (The Hollywood Reporter)

Additional reports claim her newborn's birth could also end up documented in the reality series.

Undoubtedly, the network can also look forward to major ratings spikes for upcoming episodes of the Kardashian franchise -- including the newest season ofKourtney & Kim Take Miami, premiering Jan. 20. One insider says the network "will continue to cover all aspects of Kim's life as it always has," including Kim's pregnancy and perhaps even the birth. (The season seven finale of the mothership series Keeping Up With the Kardashians on Nov. 16 saw the birth of Kourtney Kardashian's second child with Scott Disick and earned 3.6 million viewers, making it one of the top 25 broadcasts in network history.) (The Hollywood Reporter)

KimYe got spotted ringing in the new year in Las Vegas last night (December 31).

Kim Kardashian, Kanye West rang in 2013 at 1 Oak in Las Vegas. Kim, Kanye and the fetus were all smiles (well, maybe not the fetus ... it probably looked kinda smushy) ... and who wouldn't be. Kim raked in 6 figures for the appearance at the club inside the Mirage. John Legend, his fiance Chrissy Teigen and Lance Bass joined the party. Kim is approximately 3 months pregnant. Even with morning sickness, it would be hard to pass up this kind of payday. Do ya think this whole thing was timed? (TMZ)

Mr. West broke the news of Kim's pregnancy a couple nights ago in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The rapper announced at a concert Sunday night that his girlfriend is pregnant. He told the crowd of more than 5,000 at Revel Resort's Ovation Hall in song form: "Now you having my baby." The crowd roared. And so did people on the Internet. The news instantly went viral on Twitter and Facebook, with thousands posting and commenting on the expecting couple. (CBS News)