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DOJ to announce antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation as soon as Thursday

The Ticketmaster parent company also owns concert venues and promotes shows.

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Updated May 22, 2024 at 8:46 p.m. EDT|Published May 22, 2024 at 6:31 p.m. EDT

From left, Anna Mason, Emily Lind and Kristen Robinson show their Ticketmaster queue, which displays more than 2,000 people ahead of them, from the parking lot outside of the Taylor Swift concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 13, 2023. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)

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The Justice Department plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, as soon as Thursday, according to four people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the case before it becomes public.

The lawsuit is expected to allege that the entertainment conglomerate leveraged its sprawling footprint — as a concert promoter, ticket seller and venue owner — to box out rivals in ways that lessened consumer choice and resulted in rising prices for consumers, the sources said.