Live Nation executives have reportedly sidestepped the Justice Department's antitrust division to negotiate directly with more sympathetic senior officials in the hopes of avoiding a monopoly trial. Citing "people familiar with the matter," Semafor reports that some talks have excluded antitrust chief Gail Slater, who has pushed for a trial to take place in March after inheriting the case from the Biden administration.
The lawsuit filed by the DOJ and 30 state and district attorneys general in May 2024 seeks to "break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," alleging that Live Nation's dominance provides unfair commercial advantages that enable it to …