Live Nation’s senior executive ranks have been roiled by an internal feud over the company’s strategy to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on big-name acts including Madonna, Jay-Z and U2.

Company Chairman Michael Cohl, Live Nation’s biggest shareholder, recently threatened to exit the Los Angeles-based concert promoter and start his own operation, after CEO Michael Rapino called for a slowdown on blockbuster deals, according to a report on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site.

Cohl, the champion of the company’s strategy to spend mega-bucks on artists, reportedly wants to do as many as 15 such deals.

Cohl sold his Concert Productions International Inc. to Live Nation last year for $123 million in stock and $10 million in cash.