Major League Baseball’s Internet unit said Tuesday it plans to buy Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com Inc. for about $66 million.
Shares of Tickets.com surged on the news, going from 83 cents at Monday’s close to $1.07 in early trading Tuesday, a 28% gain.
MLB Advanced Media LP, baseball’s Internet arm, said it secured a $125 million credit line from Bank of America Corp. and JP Morgan & Co. to acquire Tickets.com.
Tickets.com became the primary ticket service for MLB before the 2001 season. That deal expired at the end of the 2003 season.
MLB Advanced Media was formed in 2000. Each team owner kicked in $4 million to launch the venture, which seeks to centralize Internet operations and eventually control all baseball products and services sold online.
Tickets.com got its start in 1996 and adopted its current name in 1999, during the Internet boom. The company had a tough time competing with dominant player Ticketmaster and eventually was delisted by Nasdaq.
The company now trades on the low-profile Pink Sheets with a recent market value of $8.2 million.
