The world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation Incorporated, has made public its plans to purchase Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc for $400-million in stock, a merge which will give rise to an entity with dominant holdings in both concert promotions and ticket sales.

Nevertheless, Live Nation’s announcement has only prompted the shares of both companies to decrease so far, while concerns that United States anti-trust regulators would block the acquisition under Obama's new administration have been on the rise lately.

U. S. Senator Charles Schumer has already requested a federal probe into Ticketmaster, on the grounds that the deal between the two companies would offer the new firm unrivaled power over concert-goers and ticket prices.

In case the deal moves forward and eventually clinches, the resulting new company would be able to sell 140-million tickets annually at over 140-concert venues globally that would handle 22,000 concerts on a yearly basis.

As for the firm’s clients, they would include more than 200 household names, among which Madonna, Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus and the Eagles, and this mainly due to the fact that last year Ticketmaster acquired Front Line Management Inc.

If the partnership closes in the second half of 2009, it would give rise to a $2.5-billion company including debt.

Currently, regulators, fans, artists and record labels are all voicing their concerns with regards to the deal, since the resulting entity would come into too much power over the music business.

The partnership entails that Ticketmaster shareholders would get 1.384 shares of Live Nation common stock for each share of Ticketmaster they own, whereas Live Nation would own 49.99 percent of the combined company and Ticketmaster would hold the remaining 50.01 percent, the two companies have announced in a statement.