US entrepreneur Robert FX Sillerman, who founded the company that would become Live Nation, has died at the age of 71.
According to Billboard, the live music mogul died of respiratory illness.
Sillerman launched SFX Entertainment, which was sold to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion (£3.4bn in 2019 money) in 2000 and was spun off as Live Nation in 2005.
When restarting SFX in 2012, the businessman targeted the booming EDM market and set out on an aggressive acquisition spree, snapping up the likes of Beatport, Australian promoter Totem OneLove, ID&T, producer of events such as Tomorrowland, TomorrowWorld and Sensation, Chicago-based React Events and ticketing company Flavorus.
However, the company, which launched an IPO in 2013, filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and began selling off assets. Sillerman stepped down as CEO in April of that year.
Terminating its bankruptcy agreement two months later, SFX was rebranded as LiveStyle, Inc. in December 2016, with ex-AEG chief Randy Phillips taking charge as president and CEO.
