The North American Justice will present an antitrust complaint with the aim of forcing Live Nation Entertainment Inc. to spin off its Ticketmaster ticket sales business, one of the best-known portals worldwide and among which they distribute Taylor Swift concert tickets, as published this week by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The lawsuit will bring charges of “charging exorbitant tickets,” through “dynamic pricing” – charging more when there is more demand – and “anti-competitive practices” following an investigation into the entertainment giant amid concerns that Live Nation has illegally linked its concert promotion services to the use of Ticketmaster, in violation of the terms of the 2010 agreement that allowed it to acquire the concert ticketing and promotion company. At that time and after a lengthy antitrust investigation, the federal government chose not to block the union, according to information published in WSJ. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in June.
The investigation gained momentum in November 2022 after an avalanche of 3.5 million users crashed the Ticketmaster portal during the pre-sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concerts. Currently, the company has a “monopoly” and controls more than 80% of direct ticket sales in the country, according to the United States Department of Justice.
LiveNation faces a million-dollar penalty for violating agreements after the 2010 merger.
Following the lawsuit announcement, Live Nation shares fell as much as 9.2% Tuesday morning on the Dow Jones, the biggest drop since last July.
