Live Nation stock falls amid report DOJ probing deals with artists, venues – WSJ

Stay Nation Leisure (NYSE:LYV) dropped 1.8% in after-hours buying and selling amid a report that the Justice Division is probing if the corporate’s agreements with venues to guide expertise and function a ticketing supplier could also be anticompetitive.

The offers that Stay Nation (LYV) makes use of to land artists for its occasions are amongst practices that the regulator is reviewing, based on a WSJ report on Wednesday, which cited folks aware of the matter. The company can be taking a look at whether or not the corporate’s agreements prohibit venues’ skill to work with different promoters or ticket companies.

“We don’t perceive DOJ to be investigating any concept that it may very well be anticompetitive for us to pay artists greater than others,” a Stay Nation spokeswoman advised the WSJ. “Artists receives a commission primarily based on aggressive bidding, and it might be unusual, to say the least, for antitrust businesses to say that anybody ought to pay artists much less.”

The WSJ story comes after a Politico report in late July that the DOJ might file an antitrust lawsuit towards the live performance promoter and its Ticketmaster unit by the tip of the yr. No ultimate resolution on a lawsuit has been made and the DOJ might determine to not pursue a case.

The newest report comes after a New York Instances story final November that the DOJ launched an antitrust investigation into whether or not Stay Nation’s Ticketmaster unit abused energy over the dwell music trade. That investigation predated what ended up as a botched sale of Taylor Swift tickets in November that led to Ticketmaster canceling the deliberate public tour sale.

Stay Nation (LYV) is ready to report Q3 outcomes on Thursday.