Live Nation Court Loss Leaves Breakup of Ticketer to Judge

(Bloomberg) -- Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s loss in a landmark antitrust trial follows years of regulatory scrutiny of its dominance in the live events business and sets the stage for a possible breakup of the largest US concert promoter and ticket seller.

After a six-week trial in Manhattan, which featured testimony from high-profile figures in the music industry and Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino, a federal jury on Wednesday ruled the company illegally monopolized the live events industry and overcharged fans for tickets to music performances.

The verdict marked a major win for a coalition of 33 states and Washington DC that pursued the case despite the US Justice Department’s decision to pull out after the first week of the trial, with a surprise settlement allowing Live Nation to keep its Ticketmaster unit. But jurors concluded the company illegally monopolized ticketing and tied Live Nation venues to its promotion business, leading concert goers to overpay by $1.72 per ticket.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office led the case on behalf of the states, praised the verdict. “A jury found what we have long known to be true: Live Nation and Ticketmaster are breaking the law and costing consumers millions of dollars in the process,” James said in a statement.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian, who oversaw the trial, will consider the jury’s findings in calculating how much Live Nation must pay for its illegal conduct and how to remedy the monopoly. The states want as much as $700 million and may seek additional penalties for violations of state antitrust laws. Some also have said they want Live Nation to sell Ticketmaster.

In an interview with Bloomberg, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the states will submit their proposed remedy in a few months and a split-up remains on the table.

“The monopoly should be broken up,” he said.

‘Not Over’

Live Nation said in a statement it will appeal the verdict, and that the maximum amount of damages it should owe would be $450 million. The company would likely challenge any remedy order by the judge, which could prolong the legal fight for years.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” Dan Wall, a lawyer for Live Nation, said after the verdict. “The game is not over by any means.”

Live Nation shares closed down 6.3%, its biggest decline in more than five months. Shares of rival ticket brokers jumped on the news, with StubHub Holding Inc. climbing 3.5% and Vivid Seats Inc. gained 9.3%.

The jury of seven women and two men deliberated for three and a half days before reaching their verdict, which was influenced in part by some of the many internal documents in which Live Nation described its business strategy, according to the foreperson, who asked not to be named.

Among the emails disclosed during the trial were two ticketing directors who bragged about the high fees the company charges fans at its venues and joked that the company is “robbing them blind.”

“The tone, the language that they used in their emails were not very professional,” said the foreperson. “Having the testimony of the CEO, I think it was very interesting to help us understand the whole context.” The foreperson, who had attended a Duran Duran concert at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens and saw Shakira at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, said the jury also considered the broad consumer impact of high-priced concert tickets.

A second juror, who also asked not to be named, said the panel was aware of the government’s earlier settlement in the case but said it didn’t affect their deliberations. Rather, the jury carefully reviewed the evidence presented to them during the trial, the juror said.

DOJ Settlement

The case was more than a decade in the making. In 2010, the Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general originally allowed Live Nation, whose concert promotion arm helps artists plan and market tours, to buy Ticketmaster, the largest ticketer. Among the conditions was court supervision and a promise by Live Nation not to force customers of its concert promotion services to use Ticketmaster.

Nine years later, the Justice Department said it had found multiple instances where Live Nation allegedly threatened venue operators who sought to switch ticketers. As part of a settlement, the company agreed to additional oversight over its business.

During the Biden administration, federal and state antitrust enforcers teamed up to investigate Live Nation again over allegations it had threatened venues and used its competing lines of business to disadvantage rivals. The Justice Department and a group of 40 states sued in 2024, teeing up the current case.

Live Nation has long maintained its conduct is lawful, but sought to settle the lawsuit before trial. The company employed several well-connected Republican lawyers and lobbyists to advocate for a settlement. The Justice Department signed a deal with the company to resolve its part of the case on March 5, a Thursday, but didn’t inform the court until the following Monday.

That settlement upended the trial as the states scrambled to take over the case. While the state and federal enforcers had worked on the investigation since it began in 2023, the Justice Department handled the bulk of the litigation work, including storing the files, paying for the expert witnesses and contributing more than 30 individuals to the trial team.

With the Justice Department’s withdrawal, the states hired the law firm Winston & Strawn and its co-chairman Jeffrey Kessler to lead the rest of the trial. In a separate case, Kessler and his team successfully sued the National Collegiate Athletics Association for antitrust violations on behalf of student-athletes challenging the group’s policies barring payments. That case reached all the way to the Supreme Court. More recently, Kessler and his firm reached a settlement with Nascar in an antitrust suit brought by Michael Jordan’s racing team.

“It’s a great day for antitrust law, a great day for consumers,” Kessler said as he left the lower Manhattan courthouse.

Under the Justice Department’s settlement, Live Nation will no longer be able to require large amphitheaters and arenas to use it as the exclusive ticketing company. It also agreed to terminate and renegotiate exclusive contracts with 13 venues. In addition, Live Nation said it would develop the technology to allow rival ticketers to integrate with its system, which would allow venues to use multiple ticketing services for a single event.

That settlement still requires court approval. A Watergate-era transparency law requires that antitrust settlements go through a public comment and review process. The Justice Department has yet to submit the court filings to begin that proceeding, which will be overseen by Subramanian.

In a statement after the verdict, Omeed Assefi, the Justice Department’s acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, called the verdict “a fantastic outcome for the American people.”

“DOJ and some states settled their case and got instant relief,” he said. “The remaining states received a liability finding and will now move on to the next phase of a remedies trial. Everyone but Live Nation wins with this scenario.”

Yet, already some have raised concerns about the Justice Department’s settlement. In a letter to the court Wednesday, a group of Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts urged close scrutiny of the deal amid reporting that the White House was involved in the negotiations. Others in the industry have raised concerns about the provision that would require them to integrate with Ticketmaster’s software to sell tickets for venues.

“This was a massive win for the state AGs and an historic miss for the DOJ,” said Roger Alford, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who was the Trump administration’s No. 2 antitrust official until he was fired last summer. “The DOJ had the talent, the material, and the audience. It just lacked leadership with the courage to step on stage.”

The case is US v. Live Nation Entertainment, 24-cv-03973, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

--With assistance from Christopher Palmeri and Josh Sisco.

(Updates with comment from AG Rob Bonta in sixth paragraph.)

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