Live Nation Stock Plummets Amid Looming Federal Antitrust Lawsuit Against Ticketmaster

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 The Justice Department is expected to file suit Thursday against entertainment giant Live Nation, according to Bloomberg and The Washington Post, possibly seeking to break up the Ticketmaster parent mired by monopoly allegations and a botched Taylor Swift ticket sale—sending Live Nation shares sliding in after-hours trading.

The antitrust lawsuit may be filed in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, and the DOJ could be joined by multiple states, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

One of the remedies that might be sought by the Justice Department includes a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010 after promising the combined company would not retaliate against concert venues not using Ticketmaster, according to Bloomberg.

Live Nation’s stock was down more than 7% in after-hours trading as of 7:13 ET.

The timing of the lawsuit could still shift, according to the Post.

Live Nation and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

57 million. That is how many concert tickets Live Nation sold in 2023, when it reported $22.7 billion in revenue for the year.

Live Nation has been probed by regulators and mired in controversy for years. The Justice Department found in 2019 the company repeatedly violated the settlement agreement allowing it to merge with Ticketmaster in 2010, imposing an external monitor on the company designed to investigate additional allegations of wrongdoing. The entertainment company also gained notoriety in 2022, when Ticketmaster canceled the general admissions sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour after its website crashed during pre-sale events due to high demand. Live Nation and Ticketmaster faced backlash from fans who were unable to purchase tickets for a show on the tour, with Swift herself chiming in, saying she wasn’t “going to make excuses for anyone” after her team was assured the website could handle high demand. Live Nation President Joe Berchtold told lawmakers in a hearing two months later that “industrial scalpers” and a “cyberattack” caused the Taylor Swift ticket sales. The company has also faced criticism for a dynamic pricing system that adjusts ticket prices based on demand and enables ticket resales benefiting scalpers.

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