Photo Credit: Live Nation
Live Nation reports a record first quarter with $3.8 billion in revenue, putting the company on track for a ‘record 2024.’
In a surprise to no one following the plot, the world’s largest entertainment company, Live Nation, has posted a record first quarter, with revenue up 21% to $3.8 billion compared to the first quarter of last year and an operating loss of $37 million. Attendance was up 21% to 23 million concertgoers, while food and beverage spending at Live Nation venues was up 10% in the US. Sponsorship revenue rose by 24% — and all of this is pointing toward another record year for the live entertainment giant.
“Global fan demand is stronger than ever, more artists are out on the road, and more venues are being added to bring them together,” said Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino. “While operating income will be impacted by one-time accruals, we’re on track to deliver another record year with double-digit AOI growth and years of momentum to come.”
But the increasingly dazzling statistics do nothing to counteract the scrutiny facing Live Nation from the government, as the US Department of Justice is gearing up to sue the company for antitrust violations as soon as this month, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While the specific claims against Live Nation have not been itemized publicly, WSJ says the allegations center around “the nation’s biggest concert promoter [leveraging] its dominance in a way that undermined competition for ticketing live events.”
That tracks, given that the DOJ reported finding in 2019 that Live Nation was violating the terms of an agreement as part of its merger with Ticketmaster in 2010 — by requiring venues to use Ticketmaster as a condition for hosting Live Nation performers, and allegedly retaliating against those that wouldn’t comply.
Live Nation has seen increased scrutiny over its antitrust violations after issues with the Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale, which tanked Ticketmaster’s servers and led to an outage. That incident led to a Senate hearing in which some argued that the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly should be curbed.
Still, Live Nation has been downplaying the investigation, with executives claiming they’re not too worried about it. Live Nation CFO and President Joe Berchtold revealed that while the company is preparing to begin talks with senior division DOJ leadership, he doesn’t believe splitting the Live Nation-Ticketmaster conglomerate will happen.
“Based on the issues we know about, we don’t believe a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster would be a legally permissible remedy,” said Berchtold. “Very little of the conduct the DOJ has raised with us relates to the combination of ticketing and promotion resulting from the merger, and most of what does was anticipated and addressed by the consent decree allowing the merger to go forward.”
“We’re looking forward to our upcoming meetings with the division leadership and remain hopeful that we can amicably resolve any remaining disputes,” he continued. “But if not, we’re prepared to defend ourselves in court.”
Despite its executives’ apparent nonchalance, Live Nation is facing a potential class action lawsuit from investors who assert the company misrepresented the “scope of its legal troubles” stemming from allegedly abusing its market power.
