Ticketmaster shuffles the deck

Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch said the change will allow it to focus more closely on generating revenue from both e-commerce and local advertising.

With the reorganization, the company also promoted managers to run the divisions. David Hagan, formerly the company's chief operating officer, now will serve as president of the company's City Guide and Central Support Group and focus on growing the company's local guide network. CitySearch runs 24 sites across the United States and Canada that focus on local events and services. These sites generally are partnerships with local media outlets.

Meanwhile, the company appointed John Pleasants as president of its Ticketing and Transactions division, which will oversee event ticketing, merchandising, and e-commerce.

The reorganization was announced in conjunction with Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch's intention to acquire online dating service Match.com for $50 million in stock.

The move also comes a week after USA Networks, the company's majority shareholder, along with Web portal Lycos, said they would scrap their planned merger due to a lack of Lycos shareholder support. However, on that same day, Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch inked a distribution and commerce deal with Lycos for exposure of its ticketing and local content channels. In return, Lycos will receive promotion on USA Networks' cable outlets as well as brand placement on Ticketmaster ticket jackets.