2026 - Volume 2 - Summer - Flipbook - Page 15
Division Antitrust Attorney General (now PSKY’s Chief
Legal Officer) unsuccessfully sued to block in 2017. It is
worth noting that bi-partisan state AGs from Alabama,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin sided with
AT&T.
-Anti-Trust and M&A: Continued from page 14-
jury trial instead of bench trial), and won a jury verdict
on April 15, 2026. On May 21, 2026, they sought divestment/breakup of Ticketmaster, limitations on Live Nation’s acquiring any ownership interest in the primary
ticketing for the major concert venues market, prohibitions on conditioning a venue’s access to Live Nation’s
content based on choice of ticketing platform, prohibitions on exclusivity contracts, and divestment of Live
Nation’s large amphitheaters plus prohibitions on their
future ownership.
Mergers, acquisitions, break ups, spinoffs, and other
corporate restructuring is common in Hollywood. For
example, as recently as January and February 2024,
WBD had engaged in merger negotiations with Paramount Global (a PSKY predecessor), and certain industry
labor unions (e.g., SAG-AFTRA, Directors Guild of
America) are themselves the result of mergers.
As of this writing, Judge Subramanian has yet to decide on post-trial remedies and has yet to approve the
DOJ’s settlement per the Tunney Act. In preparation for
the Tunney Act hearing, Live Nation disclosed in court
filings that it had settlement discussions with the Administration from February 2025 – March 2026, numerous
communications with senior DOJ and White House staffers in the weeks leading up to the settlement, and that in
February 2026 CEO Michael Rapino spoke with President Trump about
