DOJ preparing antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, report says
Newsy
Fourteen years after the government opted not to block Ticketmaster's merger with Live Nation, the DOJ appears ready to sue the mega company.
The Department of Justice is about to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, parent company of Ticketmaster, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The WSJ said DOJ's lawsuit will allege that Ticketmaster "has leveraged its dominance in a way that undermined competition for ticketing live events, according to people familiar with the matter."
Live Nation has drawn scrutiny for charging exorbitant fees and surcharges for ticket sales, with ticket prices often far exceeding face value. Live Nation has faced congressional scrutiny for its practices.
The two companies merged in 2010 after the DOJ decided to not to block the merger as long as Ticketmaster would license its ticket software and divest ticketing assets to two different companies — Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and either Comcast-Spectacor or another suitable buyer. The DOJ said that these measures would create some competition in the ticketing market and help keep prices reasonable for consumers.
But in the years since, there has been growing frustration over Ticketmaster's ticket-selling policies by both fans and promoters. Those frustrations exploded in late 2022 when thousands of Taylor Swift fans struggled to buy tickets for her 2023 The Eras Tour concerts.
