July 16, 2007

By By Wolfgang Spahr, Hamburg

Germany's Live Earth, which took place on July 7 in Hamburg, recorded a loss of ?950,000 ($1.3 million).

Ticket sales generated ?1.06 million ($1.46 million), merchandising and sponsoring yielded ?190,000 ($262,000), resulting in revenues of ?1.25 million ($1.72 million), organizers say.

Of the 45,000 tickets available, 29,000 were sold, 2,500 given away to sponsors and the media, and the remaining tickets were unused.

However, costs amounted to ?1.45 million ($2 million), including ?80,000 ($110,000) for the artists' accommodation and transport.

"So we ended up with a minus of about ?200,000 ($276,000). Additionally, we had to pay in advance an amount of ?750,000 ($1.03 million) to the Live Earth organization," comments Thorsten Kausch, managing director of the state-owned organizing company Hamburg Marketing GmbH.

The deficit will be covered by the city of Hamburg.

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