LYV News & Events

After a jury in the 30 state antitrust trial found that Live Nation overcharged customers for tickets just five weeks since achieving a satisfactory settlement with the DOJ, Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan says the firm is "not surprised that populist bias against Ticketmaster in any jury trial, along with the state AGs' persistence, has not negated residual antitrust risk." While it does appear the states will still attempt to persuade the judge to split Ticketmaster from Live Nation, the firm contends that an actual breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster "still appears quite unlikely," especially after the DOJ settlement. The firm has a Buy rating and $190 price target on Live Nation shares.

Live Nation said in a statement, "The jury's verdict is not the last word on this matter. Pending motions will determine whether the liability and damages rulings stand. Live Nation will soon renew its motion for judgment as a matter of law, which the Court deferred until after the jury returned its verdict. That motion addresses all liability theories. The Court previously noted that Live Nation's motion raises serious issues. There is also a pending motion to strike the damages testimony on which the jury's award was based. The Court deferred ruling on that motion as well, while noting significant concerns with the damages expert's analysis. Of course, Live Nation can and will appeal any unfavorable rulings on these motions. The jury's award of $1.72 per ticket applies to a limited number of tickets-those sold at 257 venues, which represent about 20% of total tickets-and only to purchases by fans (excluding brokers) in certain states over the past five years. Based on that scope, we believe the aggregate single damages figure would be below $150 million, which would be trebled. In connection with the DOJ settlement, Live Nation has already accrued $280 million toward state damages and civil penalty claims. Injunctive relief will be determined by the Court after the states make a remedy proposal, which we expect in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the Tunney Act proceedings regarding the DOJ settlement will continue. We remain confident that the ultimate outcome of the States' case will not be materially different than what is envisioned by the DOJ settlement."

The major averages closed mixed as traders remain optimistic about a possible end to the U.S.-Iran war, particularly amid renewed signals that a new round of talks could resume within days as well as tentative reports of a ceasefire extension. This has kept oil capped below the recent highs and prevented another spike in inflation expectations, even though the broader conflict remains unresolved.Meanwhile, investors are weighing corporate earnings, with major lenders Bank of America and Morgan Stanley leading the way with Q1 beats.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Bank of Americaprovided areport for Q1Morgan Stanleyreported, with the company saying it is entering 2026 from a position of strengthBroadcomand Metaannounced an expanded partnership overBRPfollowing the recent amendment of Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper imports into the U.S.ASMLreported ain Q1 earnings and revenue2. WALL STREET CALLS:Cloudflareto Overweight at Piper SandlerSolarEdgeto Sell at Goldman Sachs on challenging valuationCitiAdientto Buy, opened "90-day upside catalyst watch"Shift4 Paymentsto Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchDA DavidsonSymboticto Buy on "unparalleled" AI tech moat3. AROUND THE WEB:A jury has found that Live Nationmonopolized the ticketing market, Bloomberg reportsSazerac offered to acquire Brown-Formanfor $32 per share, WSJ reportsAMD, Arm, and Qualcommare investing $60M in Wayve as an extension of its $1.2B Series D round, TechCrunch reportsStellantismulls carmaking deal with Dongfengin Europe, China, Bloomberg saysAnthropic has fielded multiple offers from VCs valuing the company at as much as $800B in recent weeks, Business Insider says4. MOVERS:Oklowas higher after announcingWebullgained after theto remove day-trading limit for investorsTempus AIincreased after announcing an expansion of itsTeraWulfwas lower afterDauchfell after TD Cowenits price target to $7 from $85. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Orionbacked itsM&T Bank, with Daryl Bible, M&T's CFO commenting, "M&T continued to produce strong operating results and return capital to its shareholders in the recent quarter"NOV Inc.and earnings guidance below prior guidanceSnapprovidedGloo, backed its guidance for Q1, and raised its outlook for FY26INDEXES:The Dow fell 72.27, or 0.15%, to 48,463.72, the Nasdaq gained 376.93, or 1.59%, to 24,016.02, and the S&P 500 advanced 55.57, or 0.80%, to 7,022.95.

Live Nation Entertainment illegally monopolized ticketing markets, a New York federal jury found Wednesday, Bloomberg's Leah Nylen and Patricia Hurtado report. The jury reached its verdict following a six-week trial, the authors note.