Live Nation Shares Plunge on Antitrust Investigation Report

Shares of Live Nation (LYV) are down about 7% Tuesday morning as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prepares to file an antitrust lawsuit against the company as soon as next month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Department of Justice will charge Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, with "using its dominant market position" to harm competitors, the report said.

The federal government approved Live Nation's deal with Ticketmaster in 2010. Since then, the company has been the focus of anti-trust concerns, with critics targeting its exorbitant ticket prices and accusing the entertainment giant of monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior.

In 2020, the Department renewed the company's consent order, which prohibits Live Nation from mandating that venues use Ticketmaster for patrolling, and extended the consent order through 2025 after discovering evidence that the company had engaged in repeated violations of the prior agreement over a period of several years.

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill upped the ante against Live Nation during a House Judiciary Committee hearing early last year, following a massive flop for tickets to Taylor Swift's 2022 concert.

Many legislators have called for the company to be dissolved, but some Wall Street analysts say a breakup won't necessarily solve the problem of an unprotective secondary ticketing market.

Analysts also say that without Ticketmaster, Live Nation would be an "empty shell," since most of the company's profits come from Ticketmaster.

In its latest financial results, the company's FY2023 revenues grew 36% year-over-year to $22.7 billion, and earnings per share more than doubled to $1.37. Concert attendance climbed 20%, with more than 145 million fans attending more than 50,000 events.

In response to Tuesday's share price drop, the company's shares are down about 1% since the beginning of the year.

Alexandra Canal He is a senior reporter at Yahoo! Please. In X @allie_canal, LinkedIn Concerned about her. (math.) genus or send an email to [email protected].

Click here to view the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events affecting the stock market.

Read the latest financial news from Yahoo!