Live Nation has agreed to a $20-million settlement with investors over claims the company didn’t disclose the risks of business practices that exposed the firm to federal antitrust action.
Representatives for Live Nation declined to comment on the settlement.
The settlement comes after a 2023 class-action lawsuit accused the Beverly Hills concert promotion giant of lying about business practices including charging high fees, service bundling and retaliation against venues that used a non-Ticketmaster ticketing service. Those practices, the suit claimed, exposed the company to legal risks, including a Justice Department investigation following Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour on-sale debacle, which later led to a federal antitrust suit calling for the break up of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster.
The class-action suit claims that Live Nation misled investors when it said it “does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices.” Investors should have been told these practices may “incur regulatory scrutiny and face fines, penalties, and reputational harm,” the suit claimed.
In 2019, the Justice Department said that Live Nation had violated the terms of its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster by mandating venues use Ticketmaster’s ticketing platform if they wanted to book Live Nation performers and retaliating against venues that declined.
The class-action suit included investors who bought Live Nation shares from Feb. 23, 2022, to May 22, 2024, and incurred losses. In the Friday filing, both sides called the settlement a “fair, reasonable and adequate” resolution.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
