Nine Entertainment Sells Nine Live For $640 Million

Nine Entertainment has today announced the sale of the Nine Live division. 

According to Business Insider, the live events and ticketing division has been purchased by private equity firm, Affinity Equity partners, for $640 million dollars. 

The Hong Kong based firm will now have complete ownership of Ticketek and the rights to Allphones Arena in Sydney, which hosts a number of live music events for some of the world's biggest artists, most recently Canadian rapper Drake and pop megastar Katy Perry.

The sale is believed to put Nine in a net-cash position and will allow them to focus solely on free-to-air and digital TV streaming. 

TheMusic.com.au has reached out to Nine for comment. 

Meanwhile, Nine Live on Tuesday announced a partnership with leading New Zealand media brand, MediaWorks Limited, to launch new company, MediaWorks Nine Live. 

CEO of Nine Live Geoff Jones commented on the joint venture, saying: "We look forward to developing innovative and game-changing, integrated solutions to bring the best in live entertainment to New Zealand audiences, a model that has been very successful for us in Australia."

Mark Wheldon of MediaWorks also praised their new partner.

"Nine Live is the leader in the live space in the Australian market and the breadth and reach of MediaWorks' platforms, and our expertise in the music and entertainment space, makes this a natural fit."