Live Nation Reaches DOJ Settlement in Antitrust Case

Jennifer Rie, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation Analyst, discusses the settlement reached between Live Nation and the Justice Department over alleged music industry monopolization.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its Ticketmaster subsidiary have reached a settlement with federal antitrust authorities, the Justice Department said Monday, throwing a wrench mid-trial into an antitrust case that accused the company of illegally monopolizing the live music industry.
The agreement was announced Monday with no details provided. Bloomberg News previously reported that the sides were nearing a settlement that wouldn’t require Live Nation to sell its Ticketmaster subsidiary.
Andrew Kline, a Justice Department lawyer, said that Live Nation and the federal government signed a binding preliminary agreement on Thursday evening. He didn’t disclose any details about the settlement terms, which still need to be finalized and then reviewed by Judge Arun Subramanian.
Kline asked the court to pause the trial while the Justice Department works to create a final judgment in the case.
News of the settlement drew criticism from Washington, DC, and states that had signed onto the Justice Department’s case.
Adam Gitlin, an attorney for the DC attorney general, said that no states have officially signed on to the settlement agreement, and several, including Texas, are opposed. He asked the court for a mistrial.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that at least 25 states and DC will continue with the trial, along with New York. The settlement “fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case,” she said. “We cannot agree to it.”
Subramanian castigated the Justice Department and the states for what he said was an “entirely unacceptable” process. The judge said the parties informed him on Friday about the possibility of a settlement, but failed to disclose that a binding preliminary agreement had already been executed.
“There has been public reporting about the potential for settlement for a number of months,” the judge said. “You had the power to address it in a deliberate way, either during the trial or before the trial process and you didn’t.”
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