Signs are seen at the Live Nation NYC headquarters on May 23, 2024, in New York City (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

BIG TICKET

The DOJ thinks that Live Nation-Ticketmaster has a monopoly on the live music industry. Could it have a point?

The landmark antitrust trial kicked off on Tuesday, though the ticketing giant maintains that it’s simply spreading joy.

Millie Giles

3/4/26 9:52AM

During his opening statement on Tuesday, David Dahlquist, attorney for the US Justice Department, told jurors: “The concert ticket industry is broken, in fact the concert industry itself is broken. It is controlled by a monopolist. It is controlled by Live Nation.”

By contrast, Live Nation’s opening remarks for what could be the most consequential legal battle the modern music industry has seen took a more jovial tone. The Verge reported that the entertainment giant’s counsel pointed mostly to the good times, with slides of popular artists’ concerts underscoring its argument that the company is “all about bringing joy to people’s lives and doing it lawfully.”

The Nation vs. Live Nation

The DOJ first filed the antitrust lawsuit back in 2024, accusing Live Nation — which merged with ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster in 2010 — of illegally monopolizing the live music market.

Now, over the next six weeks in a Manhattan courtroom, a jury will decide whether the combined company has wielded its dominance to stifle competition and whether it should be broken up or otherwise penalized.

Incidentally, Live Nation-Ticketmaster also released its full-year earnings for FY2025 around two weeks ago. So, just how big is the music titan today?

Live Nation stacked column — Sherwood News

Live Nation posted record-breaking total revenues of $25.2 billion in 2025, up 9% from the year before, with its biggest quarter landing, as it often does, in the summer months of Q3. The company’s concert division posted around $20.9 billion in revenue across 2025 — equivalent to 83% of its year-end total — while its ticketing division accounted for just $3 billion (~12%).

Gig economy

Though concerts have long been the beating heart for revenue in the Live Nation business, its ticketing system is actually the profit center, with a 37% adjusted operating profit margin, netting $1.1 billion over the period — compared with a much smaller 3% margin for concerts (~$687 million). Sponsorships and ads, meanwhile, consistently deliver high margins (64% in FY2025) due to the sector’s relatively low expenses.

While the high expenditure required to operate live events eats into the concert division’s profits, the rising margins in Live Nation’s ticketing system will be a major pressure point in the DOJ’s monopoly case, with the company having drawn particular scrutiny over its pricing model.

A watershed moment came in 2022, when demand for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour crashed the Ticketmaster site and saw fans shell out thousands to attend; similar upset occurred in 2024 for those trying to score tickets to the Oasis reunion.

But even with concert ticket prices much higher than before — a 2025 survey from Pollstar found that the average US ticket price for the top 100 tours in the US was $135.92, up 41% from 2019 — more people than ever are going to live events.

Across ~55 million events around the world last year, Live Nation estimated that almost 160 million fans were in attendance in total — a 9% increase from just two years ago.

To an extent, people might just enjoy going to gigs more than they used to. The constant expansion of its already huge portfolio of venues presumably doesn’t hurt the company’s gig attendance figures, though, nor its ticket sales. As reported by Bloomberg, Live Nation controls more than 265 concert venues in North America alone, with the DOJ alleging that it controls 87% of the concert ticketing market through its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

Mob mentality

When people empty their pockets to see their favorite artists perform live, they usually want something to remember the time by, or they’re maybe willing to fork out a little more for an elevated experience... which Live Nation also manages to squeeze significant profit out of.

Indeed, beyond sponsorships and promotions — Live Nation currently manages more than 400 musical artists, giving it more than 65% of the concert promotion market, the DOJ argues — merchandise and premium offerings are bright spots that gild the company’s event business.

Clearly, whatever the outcome of the trial, Live Nation has become a virtuoso in its ability to spread itself across every facet of the modern ticket-buying and concertgoing experience, while keeping its own business in fine tune.

Tom Jones6/24/26

Prime Day is here again and Amazon’s subscription service has never been more popular

Well, it’s that time of year again: many have made their wish lists, people are scraping together the money they’ve saved to pick out a perfect gift, some are presumably leaving out refreshments for the weary delivery drivers and, more and more, drones.

It’s Amazon Prime Day — meaning that it’s the second day of the four-day promotional event that Amazon still calls Prime Day — of course, and it’s even come early this year, with the company bringing the period into late June from July, when it’s been traditionally held for the last five years.

The Prime Age

Alongside the eyes and endless clicks that the arbitrary stream of listicles on “The Best Prime Day Deals” that almost every media outlet pours into, Amazon will also be cheering the fact that there’s now more Prime users than ever before to devour the retailer and its sellers’ sometimes-contested “discounts.” Indeed, according to the latest annual estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), there were just over 200 million American shoppers using Amazon’s massive subscription service at the end of 2025.

Max Knoblauch6/15/26

Electronic Arts launches a platform to put more ads in its games

Video game publishing giant EA launched a new platform on Monday designed to make the process of selling immersive ad space in its popular games easier.

The company says the platform, called EA Advertising, allows brands to “integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content.”

More so than other studios, EA has incorporated advertising into its most popular titles. As Kotaku points out, the company’s ad efforts stretch as far back as 2006. Several of its sports franchises already feature partnerships with brands like Visa, Lowe’s, Red Bull, and PepsiCo.

In-game advertising hasn’t exactly been embraced by fans, but industry experts expect it to ramp up as companies seek more revenue to offset higher games budgets and surging memory costs. EA rival Take-Two has taken a different approach, with CEO Strauss Zelnick recently saying the company was “not at risk of doing brand partnerships” in the forthcoming “Grand Theft Auto VI,” and that ads in full-price games seems “unfair.”

The $55 billion deal to take EA private, led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is set to close at the end of this month. Being the largest leveraged buyout in history, EA will likely look for more ways to boost revenue to cover interest payments.

Electronic Arts Makes Push for Ad Dollars Tied to Sports

Millie Giles6/11/26

JM Smucker says it sold $1 billion worth of Uncrustables in FY2026

After years of booming sandwich sales, JM Smucker has finally earned a billion-dollar crust.

On Tuesday, the company reported results for fiscal year 2026, highlighting better-than-expected profits driven by higher prices for coffee and sweet baked goods. However, at another point on the earnings call, CEO Mark Smucker pointed to one particularly jammy figure: in line with previous forecasts, the company sold $1 billion worth of its (almost always) crustless sandwiches, Uncrustables, in the last year alone.

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

Paramount reportedly offers concessions to resolve multistate antitrust investigation

Paramount has reportedly offered up some concessions in an effort to prevent an antitrust lawsuit by California and about 10 other states, according to Bloomberg reporting on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the potential suit from a group of unnamed states last week, which could throw a wrench in Paramount’s plans to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery in a Hollywood megamerger.

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

Paramount Offers Concessions to Head Off State Antitrust Lawsuit

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

$98B ⛽

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

The IATA released its latest financial outlook for the airline industry over the weekend, forecasting a $98 billion jump in the sector’s collective fuel bill. The world’s largest trade group representing airlines expects the oil spike to halve profits by 49% from last year to $23 billion.

The group also expects profit margins to halve year over year, falling from 2025’s 4.2% to 2%. Still, revenue is expected to climb to $1.17 trillion from $1.07 trillion.

A surge in the cost of jet fuel has rocked US and global airlines this year, leading Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and others to raise fares and ancillary charges like bag fees. Low-cost carriers, which operate on smaller margins, have been squeezed the hardest, resulting in Spirit’s shutdown.

“It’s a tough year for all airlines, especially those whose balance sheets had not yet recovered from COVID. And, of course, for those operating in the Gulf,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who added that demand is holding up and about half of passengers expect to spend more on travel this year. “That bodes well for a strong northern summer peak season. The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs of connectivity.”