Another Live Nation investor has launched legal proceedings in the US over allegations that senior executives and board members concealed the live giant's anti-competitive practices. And that those practices have led to a regulatory investigation and media coverage which have, at times, had a negative impact on the company's share price.
Defendants, the lawsuit filed by Mark Steven Zwick claims, “issued statements that were materially false and misleading" by failing to disclose that "Live Nation engaged in anti-competitive conduct including entering into extended restrictive contracts with artists and venues, charging high fees for its ticketing services, and retaliating against venues for working with alternative promoters or ticketing services".
They also failed to disclose that, as a result of this alleged conduct, "Live Nation was reasonably likely to face regulatory scrutiny, fines, penalties and reputational harm”.
There has been much debate over the years about the dominance of Live Nation in the US live entertainment market - as a major promoter and venue operator, as well as being the owner of Ticketmaster. The 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster was controversial and only got regulatory approval from the US Department Of Justice because the combined company signed a ten year consent decree regulating how the different strands of the business would interact.
As that ten year consent decree reached its conclusion there were allegations that Live Nation had broken the rules it set out. Following a DoJ investigation, a new five year consent decree was agreed in 2019. Then, last year, it emerged that the DoJ was again investigating allegations of anti-competitive conduct by Live Nation. More recently it was reported that the focus of that investigation is Live Nation and Ticketmaster's contracts with venues and artists.
Zwick's lawsuit documents how media coverage of that new investigation has impacted Live Nation's share price. It also notes how there has been renewed interest in US political circles regarding both Live Nation's conduct and the DoJ investigation following all the issues that occurred last year when tickets went on sale via Ticketmaster for Taylor Swift's US tour.
Another investor similarly sued Live Nation back in August for allegedly failing to disclose anti-competitive conduct to its shareholders. Live Nation, of course, strongly denies that any of its deals and operations breach its DoJ consent decree or competition laws more generally.
