Live Nation drops 8% after DOJ (NYSE:LYV) antitrust investigation report
Live Nation Entertainment stock (NYSE:lyv) slip 7.9% Friday about a report that the Justice Department had opened an antitrust investigation into whether its Ticketmaster unit abuse of power in the live music industry.
What did that investigation precede? ended with a failed Taylor Swift ticket sale this week leading up to Ticketmaster cancel the planned public tour, The New York Times report.
But the events of the week tied to one of the world’s biggest pop stars have made antitrust issues difficult to resolve. Ticketmaster’s system crashed during Swift’s pre-tour sale (her first in five years) resulting in 2 million ticket sales on Tuesday, a single-day record.
Ticketmaster has had issues with long queues for fans, a large number of which have no tickets, and it says it has received 3.5 billion system requests, four times the previous peak.
According to reports, DOJ antitrust officers have been in contact with music venues and players in the ticket market in recent months – part of an extensive investigation into whether Ticketmaster has a monopoly in the ticket market. live entertainment or not.
A DOJ ordinance banning Live Nation from threatening venues to lose access to tours has been extended through 2025 after the Justice Department found multiple violations of that rule from 2010-2019.