HSN Seeks All of Ticketmaster

On the heels of Monday’s announcement that it planned to buy most of Universal Studios’ television operations for $4.08 billion, HSN on Thursday announced an offer to buy the half of Ticketmaster it doesn’t already own, for $307.5 million in cash.

Ticketmaster Chief Executive Fred Rosen said he expects Ticketmaster’s board to meet next week to appoint an independent committee to review the proposal.

The move would give HSN full ownership of Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster, the leading ticketing agency in the U.S. Analysts say Ticketmaster’s marketing reach--including an extensive database of customers, a co-branded MasterCard credit card and mailings to more than 10 million people a year--would fit well with HSN’s businesses, which include the Home Shopping Network.

HSN, headed by media veteran Barry Diller, acquired most of its current stake in Ticketmaster from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in May. In a stock-swap, Allen was given 7.2 million shares of HSN in exchange for 12.3 million shares of Ticketmaster.

Rosen--in stock and options--owns about 6% of Ticketmaster’s 30 million shares outstanding.

HSN’s offer of $25 per share represents a 70% premium over Ticketmaster’s price at the time of its initial public offering in November 1996. Ticketmaster shares fell $1.50 to close at $23.50; HSN dropped $2.44 to close at $44.56. Both are listed on Nasdaq.