UPDATED: Live Nation-Ticketmaster and the Justice Department announced a settlement of a major antitrust case on Monday, averting a lengthy trial and a potential breakup of the live music industry giant.
The settlement, rumored for weeks, comes just as a federal case recently began in New York. The settlement was confirmed by a senior Justice Department official.
Under the terms, venues will be able to use a variety of companies to sell tickets, not just Ticketmaster. That will be a standalone product, using Ticketmaster technology, that will allow companies like StubHub to use their
Live Nation also has agreed to divest up to 13 amphitheaters. Some are owned outright and others are under an extended long-term lease, according to a Justice Department officials.
Live Nation also will pay $280 million in damages.
A federal judge still will have to sign off on the agreement. Justice Department officials described what they saw as new concessions made by Live Nation against potential lengthy litigation, even if a jury sided with them.
The Justice Department and 39 states sued Live Nation in 2024, with claims that company had a monopoly across six markets and engaged in anticompetitive behavior across the live event industry. The company owns and operates venues, offers promotion services and sells tickets via Ticketmaster. In its lawsuit, the DOJ had sought a break up of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010.
Although a number of states joined the settlement, some did not.
New York Attorney General Letitia James vowed to continue the case. She said in a statement, “The settlement recently announced with the U.S. Department of Justice fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. We cannot agree to it.”
James’ office said that other states also continuing the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.
The senior Justice Department official said that states were still examining the terms of the settlement, and indicated that more could sign on. “We are confident that we will have double digit states on board,” the official said. The official, though, said that the issues had to do with the need for additional divestitures.
The lawsuit alleged that Live Nation-Ticketmaster punished venues that used more than one ticketer, that it hindered performers’ access to venues and that it bought up competitors, among other things.
The settlement follows the ouster last month of Gail Slater as the chief of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill claimed that she was fired amid corporate lobbying to relax robust enforcement of antitrust laws. When Slater announced her exit, Mike Davis, the Trump-aligned attorney who, per Semafor, has advised Live Nation, wrote on X about Slater’s departure, “Good riddance.” Last year, Live Nation added Ric Grenell, another Trump ally serving as president of the Kennedy Center, to its board.
More to come.
English (US) ·