New York - Live Nation Inc, the world's largest concert promoter, said it suffered a 337.5-million-dollar loss in the fourth quarter because of writedowns attributed to its falling stock price.

The writedowns amounted to 270 million dollars after Live Nation shares sank about 60 per cent last year, the US-based company reported Monday night.

The firm, whose quarterly loss put it deeper in the red than the 18.4-million-dollar loss it saw in the fourth quarter of 2007, also suffered a loss for all of last year of 284.2 million dollars.

Live Nation said, however, that it sold more tickets in 2008 and expected to do well this year with popular acts on tour. Sales for 2008 rose 11 per cent to 4.17 billion dollars.

For the fourth quarter, though, they fell 0.7 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier to 916 million dollars.

Live Nation announced several weeks ago that it planned to merge with another US-based company, Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc, the world's leading ticket-sales network, but the plan has run into opposition with critics saying the merged company would have too much power over the music business and could operate as a monopoly.

US lawmakers have viewed the tie-up sceptically in hearings last month before committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Anti-trust authorities are examining the merger, but Live Nation said Monday that it was confident the deal would win their approval. (dpa)