Things have gotten tense over at Live Nation. An internal feud at the concert promoter could end with Chairman Michael Cohl resigning.

The Wall Street Journal says Cohl is currently negotiating his resignation, having fought with Chief Executive Michael Rapino for weeks over so-called “360 deals.” In such deals, Live Nation gives superstars hefty upfront payments in exchange for financial rights in nearly all their business. Think Madonna and U2 and Jay-Z.

It seems, according to the reports, fairly simple: Cohl wants to sign more of these deals and Rapino wants the pace of these signings to slow; the board tells them to work out their differences; Cohl heads out the door.

Still, there is the fundamental question of whether these “360 deals” are good business or not. As the New York Times points out, the “deals were expensive for Live Nation - a reported $120 million for Madonna and $150 million for Jay-Z - spurring many industry executives and analysts to debate whether the company was paying too much.”

While Cohl could be gone as soon as next week, it will take some time to sort through which executive had it right.

Keep an eye on: 

• Online social network site Facebook.com has launched a version targeting mainland Chinese Web surfers to compete with local and overseas rivals in the world’s largest Internet market (Reuters)
• Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures must show it can thrive in the film industry without some of Hollywood’s top talent, if DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg and others bolt (WSJ.com) 
• After taking on the big and small screens, comic book heroes like Spiderman and Superman may soon be appearing on an even smaller screen — your mobile phone (Reuters)
• Microsoft isn’t about to kickstart a bunch of internet acquisitions after its failed move on Yahoo (FT.com)
• After the departure of former chief executive Victor Ganzi, speculation about who will ultimately succeed him is swirling at Hearst (NY Post)

(Photo: Reuters)

Susan Lyne is leaving Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, but the shakeup at the lifestyle brand probably isn’t over yet. 

Lyne steered the company through some rough waters as chief executive (let’s not forget she ran things as Martha Stewart trudged off to prison) and now she’ll be replaced by Wenda Harris Millard and Robin Marino. That’s right, Millard and Marino. Co-CEO’s. Two at the top. Power sharing.

How often does that work? ”They are fairly rare and they typically don’t work out to be that great,” said Noble Financial research director Michael Kupinski.

Wall Street’s reaction? Shares fell by about 6 percent yesterday.

Both Millard and Marino joined the company under Lyne’s watch, and have bigtime experience in advertising and retail merchandising. Marino was previously president and chief operating officer at luxury designer Kate Spade, while Millard served as a high-ranking ad executive at Yahoo.

On paper, it would seem a good combination for a media company with footholds in both advertising and retailing. Besides, Millard points out that she and Marino already coordinate closely. “We saw an opportunity for even more collaboration,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

Paul Bernard, who runs executive-coaching and management-consulting firm Paul Bernard & Associates, noted in the Wall Street Journal that the track record of power-sharing deals in the corporate world is “dismal.”

“Inevitably what will happen is someone will be pushed out,” he said.

As one media insider told us yesterday, these sharing things are often an attempt keep everyone happy and onboard — and just as often have the opposite effect.

Keep an eye on:

• A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation over the concert-promotion company’s ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z (WSJ.com)
• The Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday continued its campaign against a rival actors’ union’s tentative contract with Hollywood producers (Hollywood Reporter)
• Apple will make less money off each new iPhone, but Wall Street expects only a minor impact on the company’s bottom line as the cheaper price spurs mass-market buying (Reuters)

(Photo of Susan Lyne from Reuters)

The Live Nation touring and merchandising agreement with supergroup U2 could be worth $100 million estimates one Wall Street analyst.

Live Nation, a tour promoter that is evolving rapidly into an all-round music company, has prepped a 12-year deal with supergroup U2 which includes its merchandising, digital, image licensing in addition to its touring but hasn’t revealed how much money will change hands (not to us anyway).

However David Joyce, media analyst at Miller Tabak, ventures that the deal will be in the $100 million range. Joyce, who likes Live Nation’s prospects, has based his guesstimate on the $120 million figure that Live Nation is widely believed to have agreed with Madonna in cash and stock last year.

The Madonna deal was a much more far-reaching partnership that included three albums over 10 years. While the U2 pact doesn’t include recording, it’s a longer term deal with a bigger live act says Joyce.

What does $100 million get you these days? Well for 12 years Live Nation can print as many ‘U2 waz ‘ere 2018 World Tour’ t-shirts as they can sell, and they might be able to convince a few more big pop names to come on board the touring/merchandise all-you-can-eat fiesta now that they have Madonna and U2 on their calling card. But will they make their money back? That’s the big question.

Joyce cautions that the record labels want a piece of the action as well:

“Will the music label companies, facing continued secular decline in their traditional album-selling business, get into the concert promotion, artist merchandising, and fan website business with their currently signed artists, thereby fending off Live Nation’s expansion attempts?”

That appears likely, especially as Live Nation works quickly to formalize deeper relationships with the biggest names in pop and may be willing to pay more than the labels at present. It’s shaping up to be an arms race that could end up getting very expensive.

(Photo: Reuters)