Ticketmaster owner Live Nation Entertainment Inc (NYSE:LYV) tumbled almost 8% to $92.21 overnight on a report that the US Department of Justice is planning to open an antitrust lawsuit.
The DoJ will claim that Live Nation has leveraged its dominant share of the live event ticketing market in a way that undermines competition, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ticket sales behemoth Ticketmaster and events promoter and venue operator, Live Nation, merged in 2010 and are estimated to now control 70% of the ticketing and live event venues market in the US.
Last year, following strong criticism of Ticketmaster over its handling of Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour, a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing saw the company slammed for a lack of transparency, fee structure and inability to block ticket purchases by 'bots'.
When the merger was approved in 2010, it was under the condition that Live Nation was forbidden from retaliating against a venue for using a ticketer other than Ticketmaster.
The DoJ in 2019 accused Live Nation of going against this agreement and coercing ticket venues into using Ticketmaster.