AEG buys remaining shares of AXS ticketing platform

Sports and entertainment behemoth AEG is now the sole owner of ticketing company AXS.

AEG, which owned 38% of AXS, agreed to purchase the remaining 62% of the company from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and San Francisco-based private equity firm TPG Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

AEG, which is AXS’s largest ticketing client, plans to expand the ticketing company’s international operations in Europe and Asia and use the data collected by AXS to tailor individualized experiences for customers at its venues, said company President and CEO Dan Beckerman. 

“This is an important transaction for AEG,” Beckerman said. “As a team owner, music promoter and venue owner/operator, ticketing is core to AEG’s business and this transaction allows us to more closely align our global asset portfolio.”

Beckerman said he hoped the deal would help the U.S. ticketing business to become more like European and other international markets, where many venues do not have exclusive ticket system providers. 

“Whether you are a venue or promoter or a team, having choices when it comes to ticketing is a good thing and everyone in the ecosystem has different needs,” Beckerman said. “What a festival needs, versus what a venue needs, versus what a team needs is different.” 

AEG actually helped launch AXS in 2011. Today AXS provides ticketing services to more than 167 professional sports teams around the world, and over 300 venues. AEG either owns or has business relationships with more than 150 arenas, stadiums, theaters, clubs and convention centers around the world.

AXS CEO Bryan Perez said the deal would open new international markets to the ticketing company. AXS, which operates in North America and Europe, expanded into Japan in 2018, partnering with Passervo, a ticketing joint venture between Yahoo Japan Corp. and Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Entertainment. 

“With the alignment that we now have with AEG, which has operations in more international markets than us, there’s a natural opportunity not to just expand within the broader AEG portfolio, but really to align with their ongoing activities, whether it’s in arena construction, consulting, or concert promotion around the world,” Perez added. 

AEG plans to retain AXS’s staff and management, Beckerman said.

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.