Citi(R) to Become Exclusive Credit Card Partner of Live Nation Through Expanded Citi Private Pass(R) Program

Citi(R) to Become Exclusive Credit Card Partner of Live Nation Through Expanded Citi Private Pass(R) Program

NEW YORK, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Citi(R) (NYSE:C) and Live Nation (NYSE:LYV) announced today a strategic marketing alliance that leverages Live Nation's newly built, fully integrated music platform, including concerts, online ticketing and access to Live Nation Artists, to deliver a uniquely comprehensive music experience to Citi customers in the United States.

Citi's investment will grant the company "official credit card partner" status at Live Nation, giving millions of Citi customers a robust menu of benefits through Citi's recently expanded Private Pass(R) Program. These potential benefits include access to presale and preferred tickets, box seats at select venues, premium seats, exclusive merchandise and a variety of unique VIP experiences all of which will become accessible at http://www.livenation.com/ or http://www.privatepass.citi.com/.

With Citi's powerful national footprint of over 150 million credit card accounts this exciting new alliance between Live Nation and Citi will offer a variety of unique benefits to Citi customers and is expected to help drive incremental ticket sales for Live Nation.

In addition to its planned designation as Live Nation's official sponsor in the credit card category in the United States, Citi will receive other opportunities to participate in future initiatives, such as venue naming rights, tie-ins with Live Nation's new ticketing operation and benefit access for other Citi customers. It is anticipated that Citi's brand messaging and logo will be integrated into online and offline initiatives as well as in signage, direct mail campaigns, and LiveNation.com.

"At Citi, we are constantly looking for opportunities to build deeper relationships with our existing customers and to strike new relationships with potential customers," says Vik Atal, Chairman and CEO of Citi Cards. "Live Nation delivers a one-of-a-kind platform that provides our customers with unprecedented access to the best live concerts and gives them special opportunities to connect with their favorite artists in unique and exciting ways. This partnership with Live Nation further enriches our Private Pass Program and allows our customers across the U.S. unrivaled access to the concerts and live events they want to see most. Simply put, we believe it will provide Citi customers access to exclusive perks not found anywhere else."

"Over the past two years we have assembled a vertically integrated live music platform that provides our corporate partners comprehensive access to over 10,000 events and more than 36 million avid fans through an unparalleled foundation of venues, concerts, festivals, ticketing, artist merchandise, online and direct artist access," said Michael Rapino, Live Nation Chief Executive Officer. "Live Nation is the only company in the world that can provide our corporate partners this kind of global onstage, onsite and online access to one of the most powerful mediums available -- live music. Our relationship with Citi represents an entirely new level of strategic alliance made uniquely possible by this new platform. It is a truly symbiotic marketing alliance that will simultaneously benefit Citi cardmembers, touring artists and music fans all over the country."

About Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com/ or http://www.citi.com/.

About Live Nation

Live Nation is the future of the music business. With the most live concerts, music venues and festivals in the world and the most comprehensive concert search engine on the web, Live Nation is revolutionizing the music industry: onstage and online. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Live Nation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol "LYV." Additional information about the company can be found at http://www.livenation.com/ under the "About Us" section.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: johnvlautin@livenation.com

Source: Live Nation

CONTACT: Susan Novak, or Aliza Rabinoff, or Lee Rothchild, all of DKC,
+1-212-685-4300; or Samuel Wang of Citi, +1-212-559-0499; or John Vlautin,
+1-310-867-7127, of Live Nation

Web site:

http://www.livenation.com/
http://www.citigroup.com/
http://www.citi.com/

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