Live Nation has settled the lawsuit from investors who allegedly misunderstood the extent of the company’s legal vulnerability related to an anti-competitive business that the Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to dissolve Ticketmaster’s parents.
Attorneys on both sides on Friday notified the court of a $20 million transaction to settle the proposed class action lawsuit. The transaction represents a “fair, reasonable and appropriate” resolution on the case, the filing said.
Investors accused Juggernaut of lying in 2023 about bloated fee charges against venues that choose ticket service providers other than Ticketmaster, and acts related to retaliation. It was followed by reports that federal prosecutors have launched an antitrust investigation into Live Nation after a crash of a highly anticipated, pre-ordered system that was highly anticipated for Taylor Swift’s tickets over the company’s power over the live music industry.
The complaint pointed to a series of false or misleading statements issued by Live Nation regarding antitrust scrutiny of its business practices. One example: Ticketmaster cancels plans for public sales of Swift concert tickets, saying it is “not involved in any action that could justify the antitrust law.” In a lengthy statement, the company argued that there is robust competition with StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid and others, and that “there is no serious argument that Ticketmaster has a market position in secondary tickets” to support the lawsuit. Investors said live countries should be warned that they are likely to “facing regulatory scrutiny and fines, penalties and reputational harm” as a result of anti-competitive conduct, the lawsuit argued.
In an application Friday, the investor’s lawyer said he agreed to settle the lawsuit for the “substantial financial benefits” the transaction provides. He also cited “the significant risks and costs of ongoing litigation and trials.”
Live Nation said the transaction would eliminate “the uncertainty, burden and costs of a longer-term litigation.” “The defendant expressly denied that the plaintiff asserts a valid claim against any of these and expressly denys all claims of negligence, liability, misconduct or damages.”
The court rejected LiveNation’s bid last year to dismiss the case. Shortly afterwards, the Department of Justice officially submitted an antitrust law to the company.
This class includes investors who purchased Livenation stocks from February 23, 2022 to May 22, 2024 and suffered losses. LiveNation for investors and lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Complaints include Chief Executive Michael Lapino and Chief Financial Officer Joe Bertitrud. It alleges it has prohibited violations of the Securities and Exchange Act and misleading omissions related to securities transactions.
In 2019, the Department of Justice concluded that Live Nation had violated the terms of the settlement to greenlight the 2010 merger with Ticketmaster by forcing Ticketmaster to host live-nation performers and accept Ticketmaster’s ticket services as a condition of retaliation for those who refused. The company will be fined $1 million for the violation under an amended agreement that allows the Monitor to investigate further violations of the consent judgment until 2025.
