US Justice Dept to seek break-up of Live Nation-Ticketmaster
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Live Nation had also come under fire in 2022 after Ticketmaster botched the sale of tickets to singer Taylor Swift’s 2023 tour.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON D.C. – The US Justice Department and a group of states will sue Live Nation Entertainment for antitrust violations related to Ticketmaster’s unrivalled control of concert ticket sales, according to people familiar with the case.
The suit is expected to be filed in the Southern District of New York on May 23, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential information.
The dispute will seek remedies including breaking up Live Nation, they added.
Live Nation shares dropped by 10 per cent in late trading following Bloomberg’s report on the Justice Department’s planned lawsuit.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, it has said in the past that it was confident that its business practices were legal, and that the probe had been prompted by complaints from rivals, including resellers.
The move is the latest antitrust suit pursued by the Biden administration, which has made competition a key component of its economic policy, bringing cases against companies including Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.
Live Nation, the biggest US concert promoter, merged with ticketing giant Ticketmaster in 2010.
Under then President Barack Obama, the Justice Department reviewed the transaction and allowed it to move forward as part of a settlement in which the company promised it would not retaliate against concert venues that opted against using Ticketmaster.
The department, under former president Donald Trump’s administration, found that Live Nation had repeatedly violated that promise and entered into a modified settlement with the company in 2019 to impose an external monitor to investigate further allegations.
President Joe Biden’s administration opened a new probe of the company in 2022 amid continued concerns that Live Nation had not abided by the settlement terms.
The case sparked widespread public interest after Ticketmaster bungled the massive demand for singer Taylor Swift tickets later that year. US senators in January 2023 slammed Live Nation’s lack of transparency and inability to block bot purchases of tickets, in a hearing called after the ticket sales fiasco.
Mr Biden’s Justice Department has already filed twin monopolisation cases against Google and, in March, sued Apple for allegedly thwarting innovation on its iPhone. The Federal Trade Commission, which jointly enforces the antitrust laws, is seeking to force Meta Platforms to sell off its Instagram and WhatsApp units, and sued Amazon in 2023 for monopolisation of online marketplace services. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
