Live Nation Seeks ‘Common Ground’ With DOJ, Berchtold Says

Live Nation executives are in discussions with the Department of Justice in an effort to find “common ground” as the feds’ investigation in to the live entertainment giant continues.

At this week’s J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications conference, LN’s President and CEO Joe Berchtold said meetings between the company’s top executives and leading Justice Department officials are ongoing.

The DOJ opened an antitrust investigation of Live Nation in November 2022 and the Wall Street Journal reported in April that a lawsuit was imminent.

Still, Berchtold believes the DOJ has “an open mind.”

“We wouldn’t get to this point if they didn’t have concerns, but the good news is we’re still talking and they’ve said they have an open mind,” he said at the conference. “So without getting into the real details of the conversation, I think it’s fair to say I continue to believe that we fundamentally have business practices that are fully defensible. But we’re also open to figuring out common ground in order to get this settled and moved on. But we don’t know exactly what they want at this point still.”

Berchtold’s statement echoes what he told investors during the company’s quarterly earnings call May 2, when said discussions between senior officials at the company and DOJ indicated the feds were in the “final phase” of the investigation. On that call, Berchtold acknowledged “competitors and interest groups” were pushing the DOJ to break-up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, but that he didn’t believe that was a legally available remedy as the Justice Department “repeatedly stated in court filings that the merger and settlement were in the public interest.”

“The DOJ’s investigation appears to be focused on specific business practices, not the legality of Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger or our overall business structure. Very little of the conduct that DOJ has raised with us relates to the combination of ticketing and promotion resulting from the merger,” he said.