By Jody Godoy and Kritika Lamba
March 9 (Reuters) – Live Nation Entertainment has reached a proposed settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in an antitrust case targeting its dominance in the live‑events industry, according to a court hearing on Monday.
In the same hearing, it was disclosed that Live Nation is also in talks with state attorneys general to secure a broader, global resolution of related state‑level antitrust claims.
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Live Nation, Ticketmaster and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The development throws the case into chaos in the middle of what was to be a weeks-long trial. New York and 38 other states plus Washington, D.C., also have claims against Live Nation.
An attorney for Washington, D.C., moved for a mistrial on behalf of the states. The judge was considering that request on Monday morning, or potentially pausing the trial to allow the states to prepare to proceed on their own.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian questioned why the parties had not informed the court sooner about the settlement, which was signed on Thursday. An attorney for the DOJ said she was not aware of the settlement as the trial proceeded on Friday.
“It shows absolute disrespect for the court, for the jury, for this entire process, and it is entirely unacceptable,” he said.
Fans and politicians had intensified calls to examine Live Nation’s 2010 acquisition of Ticketmaster, after the company subjected Taylor Swift fans to hours-long online queues while charging high prices for tickets to her 2022 Eras tour.
The U.S. Justice Department and more than two dozen states sued to break up Live Nation in May 2024, calling for a sale of Ticketmaster and alleging the companies illegally inflated concert ticket prices and harmed artists.
The trial in the case began last week after a judge in February rejected Live Nation’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit.
According to a Politico report, the agreement requires the concert giant to pay roughly $200 million in damages to participating states and submit to sweeping structural reforms targeting its long-criticized control of ticketing, venues and artist promotion.
“The settlement recently announced with the U.S. Department of Justice fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. We cannot agree to it,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Under the settlement, Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its technology platform to competing ticketing companies, allowing third-party sellers such as SeatGeek and Eventbrite to list tickets directly through its system, the report said.
(Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington and Angela Christy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
