Risk Factors Dashboard
Once a year, publicly traded companies issue a comprehensive report of their business, called a 10-K. A component mandated in the 10-K is the ‘Risk Factors’ section, where companies disclose any major potential risks that they may face. This dashboard highlights all major changes and additions in new 10K reports, allowing investors to quickly identify new potential risks and opportunities.
View risk factors by ticker
Search filings by term
Risk Factors - LYV
-New additions in green
-Changes in blue
-Hover to see similar sentence in last filing
$LYV Risk Factor changes from 00/02/23/22/2022 to 00/02/22/24/2024
Item 1A.—Risk Factors as well as other factors described herein or in our quarterly and other reports we file with the SEC (collectively, “cautionary statements”). Based upon changing conditions, should any risk or uncertainty that has already materialized, or should one or more of the currently unrealized risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in any forward-looking statements. Based upon changing conditions, should any risk or uncertainty that has already materialized, such as, for example, the risks and uncertainties posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, worsen in scope, impact or duration, or should one or more of the currently unrealized risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in any forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the applicable cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. ITEM 1. BUSINESSOur CompanyWe believe that we are the largest live entertainment company in the world, connecting over 765 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms in 49 countries during 2023.Our CompanyWe believe that we are the largest live entertainment company in the world, connecting over 310 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms in 45 countries in 2021 and over 580 million fans in 2019 prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We believe we are the largest producer of live music concerts in the world, based on total fans that attend Live Nation events as compared to events of other promoters, connecting over 145 million fans to more than 6,800 artists at over 50,000 events in 2023. We believe we are the largest producer of live music concerts in the world, based on total fans that attend Live Nation events as compared to events of other promoters, connecting over 35 million fans to more than 17,200 events for over 4,400 artists in 2021. Live Nation owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest for which we have a significant influence in 373 venues globally, including House of Blues® music venues and prestigious locations such as The Fillmore® in San Francisco, Brooklyn Bowl® in New York City, the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, the Moody Center© arena in Austin, the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, 3Arena in Dublin, Royal Arena in Copenhagen and Spark Arena in Auckland. Live Nation owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest in 320 venues, including House of Blues® music venues and prestigious locations such as The Fillmore® in San Francisco, Brooklyn Bowl®, the Hollywood Palladium, the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, 3Arena in Ireland, Royal Arena in Copenhagen and Spark Arena in New Zealand. We believe we are one of the world’s leading artist management companies based on the number of artists represented. Our artist management companies manage music artists and acts across all music genres.We believe we are the world’s leading live entertainment ticketing sales and marketing company, based on the number of tickets we sell.2Table of ContentsWe believe we are the world’s leading live entertainment ticketing sales and marketing company, based on the number of tickets we sell. Ticketmaster provides ticket sales, ticket resale services and marketing and distribution globally through www.ticketmaster.com and www.livenation.com and our mobile apps, other websites and numerous retail outlets, distributing over 620 million tickets through our systems in 2023.com and our other websites, mobile apps, numerous retail outlets and call centers, selling over 282 million tickets through our systems in 2021. Ticketmaster serves approximately 10,000 clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, festival and concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters. Ticketmaster serves nearly 7,100 clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, festival and concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters. We believe our global footprint is one of the world’s largest music advertising networks for corporate brands and includes one of the world’s leading ecommerce websites based on a comparison of gross sales of top internet retailers.We believe our global footprint is one of the world’s largest music advertising network for corporate brands and includes one of the world’s leading ecommerce websites, based on a comparison of gross sales of top internet retailers prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Our principal executive offices are located at 9348 Civic Center Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210 (telephone: 310-867-7000). Our principal website is www.livenationentertainment.com. Live Nation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol “LYV.”2Our StrategyOur strategy is to grow our global leadership position in live entertainment, promote more shows, sell more tickets and partner with more sponsors, thereby increasing our revenue, earnings and cash flow. We serve artists, venues and sports teams and leagues to secure content and tickets; we invest in technology to build innovative products which advance our ticketing, digital presence, including mobile platforms, and advertising; and we are paid by advertisers that want to connect their brands with our passionate fan base. Our core businesses surrounding the promotion of live events include ticketing and sponsorship and advertising. We believe our focus on growing these businesses will increase shareholder value as we continue to enhance our revenue streams and achieve economies of scale with our global platforms. We also continue to strengthen our core operations, further expanding into global markets and optimizing our cost structure. Our strategy is to grow and innovate through the initiatives listed below. •Expand our Concert Platform. We will deliver more shows, grow our fan base and increase our ticket sales by continuing to build our portfolio of concerts globally, expanding our business into additional top global music markets, and further building our presence in existing markets. Through our strong partnership with artists, agents and managers and a focus on supporting the development of emerging artists, we believe we can continue to expand our concert base. Through our strong partnership with artists, agents and managers, we believe we can continue to expand our concert base by delivering strong and consistent services. •Grow our Revenue per Show. We will grow our revenue per show across our venues through more effective ticket pricing, broader ticketing distribution and more targeted promotional marketing. We will also grow our onsite fan monetization by improving ease of purchase, through improved onsite food and beverage and other products, merchandising, and enhanced experiences for our fans. We will also grow our onsite fan monetization by improving ease of purchase including contactless payment and rollout of digital technology, through improved onsite products, merchandising, and enhanced experiences for our fans. •Invest in Product Improvements. We will continue to invest in our ticketing platforms and develop innovative products to grow our sales channels, drive increased ticket sales, grow non-service fee revenue streams, and continue to build our client base. We will continue to invest in our ticketing platforms and develop innovative products to build fan traffic to our sales channels, drive increased ticket sales, and continue to build our client base. These include technological and digital transformations to improve the experience and transparency for fans, venues, and event organizers as well as the overall quality of service. In addition, we will continue to invest in tools that reduce fraud and help artists and teams determine how to get their tickets into the hands of real fans.•Sell More Tickets. We are focused on selling tickets through a wide set of sales channels, including mobile and online, partnering with affiliates, and leveraging our fan database. We are focused on selling tickets through a wide set of sales channels, including mobile and online, and leveraging our fan database. We will continue to enhance our application programming interface features to reach a broader audience and expand our digital ticketing rollout, strengthening client and artist control over distribution and creating new and unique marketing opportunities. We will continue to enhance our application programming interface features to reach a broader audience and expand our digital ticketing rollout, strengthening control over distribution for our clients and creating new and unique marketing opportunities. We will grow the volume of secondary tickets sold through a trusted environment for fan ticket exchanges, allowing our fans to have a dependable, secure destination for secondary ticket acquisition for all events.•Grow Sponsorship and Advertising Partnerships. We will continue to drive growth in our sponsorship relationships and capture a larger share of the global music sponsorship market by further monetizing our fan base and growing our portfolio of brands. We will focus on expanding existing partnerships and developing new corporate sponsor partners to provide them with targeted strategic programs, accessing the fans attending our shows. We will continue to develop and to scale new products in order to drive onsite and digital revenue.Our Strengths We believe we have unique resources that are unmatched in the live entertainment industry. •Fans. During 2023, we connected over 765 million fans to their favorite live event. Our database of fans and their interests provides us with the means to efficiently communicate to them about shows they are likely to be interested in. Our database of fans and their interests provides us with the means to efficiently market our shows to them. •Artists. We have extensive relationships with artists ranging from those just beginning their careers to established superstars. In 2023, we promoted shows for over 6,800 artists globally. In addition, through our artist management companies, we managed more than 380 artists in 2023. In addition, through our artist management companies, we managed more than 450 artists in 2021 and more than 500 artists in 2019. •Digital Platforms and Ticketing. We own and operate various branded websites, both in the United States and abroad, which are customized to reflect services offered in each jurisdiction. Our primary commercial websites, www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com, together with our other branded ticketing websites, are designed to promote ticket sales for live events. We also have both Live Nation and Ticketmaster mobile apps that our fans can use to access event information and buy tickets.3•Distribution Network. We believe that our global network of promoters, venues and festivals provides us with a strong position in the live concert industry. We believe that our global distribution network of promoters, venues and festivals provides us with a strong position in the live concert industry. We believe we have one of the largest global networks of live entertainment businesses in the world, with offices in 45 countries worldwide. In addition, we own, lease, operate, have exclusive booking rights for, or have an equity interest for which we have a significant influence in 373 venues and have operations located across 49 countries as of the end of 2023, making us, we believe, the second largest operator of music venues in the world. We also believe that we are one of the largest music festival producers in the world with 146 festivals globally in 2023. We also believe that we are one of the largest music festival producers in the world with 56 festivals globally in 2021 and 111 festivals globally in 2019 prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we believe that our global ticketing distribution network—with approximately 10,000 clients worldwide in 2023 — makes us the largest ticketing network in the world. •Sponsors. We monetize our physical and digital assets through long-term sponsorship agreements and advertising. We employ a sales force of approximately 700 people that worked with more than 1,200 sponsors during 2023, through a combination of strategic partnerships, local venue-related deals, national agreements and digital campaigns, both in North America and internationally. We employ a sales force of approximately 500 people that works with approximately 560 sponsors and nearly 1,200 in 2019 prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, through a combination of strategic partnerships, local venue-related deals, national agreements and digital campaigns, both in North America and internationally. Our sponsors include some of the most well-recognized national and global brands across diverse sectors including consumer, financials and leisure including Citibank, O2, American Express, Cisco, Hilton, Red Bull and Anheuser Busch (each of these brands is a registered trademark of the sponsor).Our Industry We operate in the following main industries within the live entertainment business: live music events, music venue operations, the provision of management and other services to artists and athletes, ticketing services and sponsorship and advertising sales. The live music industry includes concert promotion and/or production of music events or tours. Typically, to initiate live music events or tours, booking agents work with artists. Typically, to initiate live music events or tours, booking agents contract with artists to represent them for defined periods. Booking agents then work with promoters, who will contract with them or with artists directly, to promote events. Promoters earn revenue primarily from the sale of tickets. Artists are paid by the promoter under one of several different formulas, which may include fixed guarantees and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits. In addition, promoters may also reimburse artists for certain costs of production, such as sound and lights. Under guaranteed payment formulas, promoters assume the risks of unprofitable events. Promoters may renegotiate lower guarantees or cancel events because of insufficient ticket sales in order to reduce their losses. Promoters can also reduce the risk of losses by entering into global or national touring agreements with artists and including the right to offset lower performing shows against higher performing shows on the tour in the determination of overall artist fees. Artist managers primarily provide services to music artists to manage their careers. The artist manager negotiates on behalf of the artist and is paid a fee, generally as a percentage of the artist’s earnings.Our strategy is to provide minimum revenue guarantees to artists, which generates the vast majority of their total income. We believe the artist-fan connection is the source of nearly all commercial value and as a result, our artists receive the majority of all ticketing revenue. For music tours, four to eight months typically elapse between initially booking artists and the first performances. Artists, in conjunction with promoters, managers and booking agents, set ticket prices and advertising plans. Promoters market events, sell tickets, rent or otherwise provide venues and arrange for local production services, such as stages and equipment.Venue operators typically contract with promoters to have their venues rented for specific events on specific dates and receive fixed fees and/or percentages of ticket sales as rental income. Venue operators typically contract with promoters to have their venues rented for specific events on specific dates and receive fixed fees or percentages of ticket sales as rental income. In addition, venue operators provide services such as concessions, parking, security, ushering and ticket scanning at the gate, and receive some or all of the revenue from concessions, merchandise, parking and premium seating. Ticketing services generally refers to the sale of tickets primarily through online and mobile channels, but also include sales through phone, outlet and box office channels. 4Table of Contents Ticketing services generally refers to the sale of tickets primarily through online and mobile channels, but also include sales through phone, outlet and box office channels. Ticketing companies will contract with venues and/or promoters to sell tickets to events over a period of time, generally three to five years. The ticketing company generally gets paid a fixed fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the total ticket service charges. The ticketing company receives the cash for the ticket sales and related service charges at the time the ticket is sold and periodically remits these receipts to the venue and/or promoter after deducting its fee. Venues will often also sell tickets through a local box office at the venue using the ticketing company’s technology. The ticketing company will generally not earn a fee on these box office tickets. Venues set the ticketing service fee to be charged on tickets and typically retain the majority of these fees.Ticketing resale services generally refers to the sale of tickets by a holder who originally obtained the tickets from a venue or other entity.Ticketing resale services generally refers to the sale of tickets by a holder who originally obtained the tickets from a venue or other entity, or a ticketing services provider selling on behalf of a venue or other entity. Resale tickets are also referred to as secondary tickets. Generally, the ticket resale company is paid a service charge when the ticket is resold and the ticket value is paid to the holder. Generally, the ticket resale company is paid a service charge when the ticket is resold and the negotiated ticket value is paid to the holder. 4The sponsorship and advertising industry within the live entertainment business involves the sale of international, national, regional and local advertising and promotional programs to a variety of companies to advertise or promote their brand, product or service. These sponsorships typically include venue naming rights, onsite venue signage, online and in-app advertisements and exclusive partner rights in various categories such as credit card, beverage, travel and telecommunications, and may include event pre-sales and onsite product activation. These sponsorships typically include venue naming rights, onsite venue signage, online advertisements and exclusive partner rights in various categories such as credit card, beverage, travel and telecommunications, and may include event pre-sales and onsite product activation. Our Business Our reportable segments are Concerts, Ticketing and Sponsorship & Advertising.Concerts. Our Concerts segment principally involves the global promotion of live music events in our owned or operated venues and in rented third-party venues, the operation and management of music venues, the production of music festivals across the world, the creation of associated content and the provision of management and other services to artists. Including intersegment revenue, our Concerts business generated $18.8 billion, or 82%, of our total revenue during 2023. We promoted more than 50,000 live music and other events in 2023. While our Concerts segment traditionally operates year-round, we experience higher revenue during the second and third quarters due to the seasonal nature of shows at our outdoor amphitheaters and festivals, which primarily occur from May through October. We expect our seasonality trends to evolve as we continue to expand our global operations.As a promoter, we earn revenue primarily from the sale of tickets and pay artists under one of several formulas, including a fixed guaranteed amount and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits. For each event we promote, we either use a venue we own or operate, or rent a third-party venue. Revenue is generally impacted by the number of events, volume of ticket sales and ticket prices. Event costs such as artist fees and production expenses are included in direct operating expenses and are typically substantial in relation to the revenue. As a result, significant increases or decreases in promotion revenue do not typically result in comparable changes to operating income.As a venue operator, we generate revenue primarily from the sale of concessions, parking, premium seating, rental income and ticket rebates or service charges earned on tickets sold under ticketing agreements.As a venue operator, we generate revenue primarily from the sale of concessions, parking, premium seating, rental income and ticket rebates or service charges earned on tickets sold through our internal ticketing operations or by third parties under ticketing agreements. In our amphitheaters, the sale of concessions is outsourced and we receive a share of the net revenue from the concessionaire, which is recorded in revenue with limited associated direct operating expenses. Revenue generated from venue operations typically has a higher margin than promotion revenue and therefore typically has a more direct relationship to changes in operating income. As a festival promoter, we typically book artists, secure festival sites, provide for third-party production services, sell tickets and advertise events to attract fans. We also provide or arrange for third parties to provide operational services as needed such as concessions, merchandising and security. We earn revenue from the sale of tickets and typically pay artists a fixed guaranteed amount. We also earn revenue from the sale of concessions, camping fees and service charges earned on tickets sold. For each event, we either use a festival site we own or rent a third-party festival site. Revenue is generally impacted by the number of events, volume of ticket sales and ticket prices. Event costs such as artist fees and production expenses are included in direct operating expenses and are typically substantial in relation to the revenue. Since the artist fees are typically fixed guarantees for these events, significant increases or decreases in festival promotion revenue will generally result in comparable changes to operating income.Ticketing. Our Ticketing segment is primarily an agency business that sells tickets for events on behalf of its clients and retains a portion of the service charge as its fee. We sell tickets for our events and also for third-party clients across multiple live event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, music clubs, concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters. We sell tickets through mobile apps, websites and ticket outlets. Our Ticketing segment also manages our online activities including enhancements to our websites and product offerings. Including intersegment revenue, our Ticketing business generated $3.0 billion, or 13%, of our total revenue during 2023, which excludes the face value of tickets sold and is net of the fees paid to our ticketing clients.1%, of our total revenue during 2021, which excludes the face value of tickets sold and is net of the fees paid to our ticketing clients. Through all of our ticketing services, we sold approximately 329 million tickets in 2023 on which we were paid fees for our services. Through all of our ticketing services, we sold 132 million tickets in 2021 on which we were paid fees for our services. In addition, approximately 291 million tickets were sold, for which we did not receive a fee, using our Ticketmaster systems, including season seat packages, our venue clients’ box offices, and other channels. In addition, approximately 151 million tickets were sold using our Ticketmaster systems, including through season seat packages, our venue clients’ box offices, and other channels through which we did not receive a fee. Our ticketing sales are impacted by fluctuations in the availability of events for sale to the public, which may vary depending upon event scheduling by our clients. As ticket sales increase, related ticketing operating income generally increases as well.5We sell tickets on behalf of our clients through our ticketing platforms across the world. We generally enter into written agreements with individual clients to provide primary ticketing services for specified multi-year periods, typically ranging from three to five years. Pursuant to these agreements, clients and their content partners generally determine and then tell us what tickets will be available for sale, when such tickets will go on sale to the public and what the ticket price will be, sometimes with our analytical support. Pursuant to these agreements, clients generally determine and then tell us what tickets will be available for sale, when such tickets will go on sale to the public and what the ticket price will be, sometimes with our guidance and recommendations. Agreements with venue clients in North America and Australia generally grant us exclusive rights to sell tickets for all events presented at the relevant venue for which tickets are made available to the general public. Agreements with promoter clients in other international markets generally grant us the right to an allocation of tickets for events presented by a given promoter at any venue, unless that venue is already covered by an existing exclusive agreement with our ticketing business or another ticketing service provider. Similarly, in such international markets we have venue agreements which provide Ticketmaster an allocation of tickets for all events at those venues. While we generally have the right to sell a substantial portion of our clients’ tickets, venue and promoter clients often sell and distribute a portion of their tickets in-house through their box office and season ticket programs. In addition, under many written agreements between promoters and our clients, and generally subject to Ticketmaster approval, the client may allocate certain tickets for artist, promoter, agent and venue use and do not make those tickets available for sale by us. Due to these and other permitted third-party ticket distribution channels, we do not always sell all of our clients’ tickets, even at venues where we are the exclusive primary ticketing service provider, and the amount of tickets that we sell varies from client to client and from event to event, and also varies as to any given client from year to year.We currently offer ticket resale services, sometimes referred to as secondary ticketing, principally through our integrated inventory platform, league/team platforms and other platforms internationally. We enter into arrangements with the holders of tickets previously distributed by a venue or other source to post those tickets for sale at a purchase price equal to a new sales price, determined by the ticket holder, plus a service fee to the buyer. The seller in this circumstance receives the new sales price less a seller service fee.Sponsorship & Advertising. Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment employs a sales force that creates and maintains relationships with sponsors through a combination of strategic, international, national and local opportunities that allow businesses to reach customers through our concert, festival, venue and ticketing assets, including advertising on our websites. We work with our corporate clients to help create marketing programs that support their business goals and connect their brands directly with fans and artists. We also develop, book and produce custom events or programs for our clients’ specific brands, which are typically presented exclusively to the clients’ consumers. These custom events can involve live music events with talent and media, using both online and traditional outlets. Including intersegment revenue, our Sponsorship & Advertising business generated $1.1 billion, or 5%, of our total revenue during 2023. We typically experience higher revenue in the second and third quarters as a large portion of sponsorships are usually associated with our outdoor venues and festivals, which are primarily used in or occur from May through October. We expect our seasonality trends to evolve as we continue to expand our global operations.We believe that we have a unique opportunity to connect the music fan to corporate sponsors and therefore seek to optimize this relationship through strategic sponsorship programs. We continue to also pursue the sale of national and local sponsorships, both domestically and internationally, and placement of advertising, including signage, online advertising and promotional programs. Many of our venues have naming rights sponsorship programs. We believe national and international sponsorships allow us to maximize our network of venues and festivals and to arrange multi-venue or multi-festival branding opportunities for advertisers. Our local and venue-focused sponsorships include venue signage, promotional programs, onsite activation, hospitality and tickets, and are derived from a variety of client companies across various industry categories. Live Nation Venue Details In the live entertainment industry, venue types generally consist of: •Stadiums—Stadiums are multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. 6Table of ContentsLive Nation Venue Details In the live entertainment industry, venue types generally consist of: •Stadiums—Stadiums are multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Stadiums typically have 30,000 or more seats. Although they are the largest venues available for live music, they are not specifically designed for live music. •Amphitheaters—Amphitheaters are generally outdoor venues with between 5,000 and 30,000 seats that are used primarily in the summer season. We believe they are popular because they are designed specifically for concert events, with premium seat packages and better lines of sight and acoustics. •Arenas—Arenas are indoor venues that are used as multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Arenas typically have between 5,000 and 20,000 seats. Because they are indoors, they are able to offer amenities that other similar-sized outdoor venues cannot, such as luxury suites and premium club memberships. As a result, we believe they are popular for higher-priced concerts aimed at audiences willing to pay for these amenities.6•Theaters—Theaters are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events, but may include theatrical performances. •Theaters—Theaters are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events, but may include theatrical performances. These venues typically have a capacity of between 1,000 and 6,500. Theaters represent less risk to concert promoters because they have lower fixed costs associated with hosting a concert and may provide a more appropriately-sized venue for developing artists and more artists in general. Because these venues have a smaller capacity than an amphitheater or arena, they do not offer as much economic upside on a per show basis. Theaters can also be used year-round. •Clubs—Clubs are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events, but may also include comedy clubs. These venues typically have a capacity of less than 1,000 and often without full fixed seating. Because of their small size, they do not offer as much economic upside, but they also represent less risk to a concert promoter because they have lower fixed costs associated with hosting a concert and also may provide a more appropriately-sized venue for developing artists. Clubs can also be used year-round. •Restaurants & Music Halls—Restaurants & Music Halls are indoor venues that offer customers an integrated live music, entertainment and dining experience. This category includes our House of Blues® and Brooklyn Bowl® venues whose live music halls are specially designed to provide optimum acoustics and typically can accommodate between 1,000 to 2,000 guests. A full-service restaurant and bar is located adjacent to the live music hall. We believe that the strength of the brand and the quality of the food, service and unique atmosphere in our restaurants attract customers to these venues independently from a live music event and generate a significant amount of repeat business from local customers. •Festival Sites—Festival sites are outdoor locations used primarily in the summer season to stage large single-day or multi-day concert events featuring several artists on multiple stages. Depending on the location, festival site capacities can range from 10,000 to over 100,000 fans per day. We believe they are popular because of the value provided to the fan by packaging several artists together for an event. While festival sites only host a few events each year, they can provide higher operating income because we are able to generate income from many different services provided at the event.•Other Venues—Other venues includes restaurants and exhibition and convention halls that typically are not used for live music events. •Other Venues—Other venues includes restaurants, exhibition and convention halls that typically are not used for live music events. The following table summarizes the number of venues by type that we owned, leased, operated, had exclusive booking rights for or had an equity interest over which we had a significant influence as of December 31, 2023:__________(1)Operated festival sites includes multi-year agreements providing us the right to use public or private land for a defined period of time leading up to and continuing after the festival.7Table of ContentsThe following table summarizes the number of venues by type that we owned, leased, operated, had exclusive booking rights for or had an equity interest in as of December 31, 2021:__________(1)Operated festival sites includes multi-year agreements providing us the right to use public or private land for a defined period of time leading up to and continuing after the festival. We may enter into multiple agreements for a single festival site or use the same site for multiple festivals. We have aggregated the agreements for each festival site and reported them as one festival site.7Competition Competition in the live entertainment industry is intense. We believe that we compete primarily on the basis of our ability to deliver quality music events, sell tickets and provide enhanced fan and artist experiences. We believe that our primary strengths include:•the quality of service delivered to our artists, fans, ticketing clients and corporate sponsors; •our track record and reputation in promoting and producing live music events and tours both domestically and internationally; •our artist relationships; •our global footprint; •the quality of our ticketing software and services; •our ecommerce site and its extensive database; •our diverse distribution platform of venues; •the scope, effectiveness and expertise of our advertising and sponsorship programs; and •our financial stability. We believe that our primary strengths include: •the quality of service delivered to our artists, fans, ticketing clients and corporate sponsors; •our track record and reputation in promoting and producing live music events and tours both domestically and internationally; •our artist relationships; •our global footprint; •the quality of our ticketing software and services; •our ecommerce site and its extensive database; •our diverse distribution platform of venues; •the scope, effectiveness and expertise of our advertising and sponsorship programs; and •our financial stability. Although we believe that our products and services currently compete favorably with respect to such factors, we cannot provide any assurance that we can maintain our competitive position against current and potential competitors, especially those with significantly greater brand recognition, or greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources. In the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from other promoters and venue operators. We believe that barriers to entry into the promotion services business are low and that certain local promoters are increasingly expanding the geographic scope of their operations. Some of our competitors in the live music promotion industry are Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, Another Planet Entertainment, CTS Eventim, Jam Productions, Ltd. 8Table of ContentsSome of our competitors in the live music promotion industry are Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, Another Planet Entertainment, CTS Eventim, Jam Productions, Ltd. , I.M.P., Outback Presents and TEG Dainty in addition to numerous smaller regional companies and various casinos and venues in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. AEG operates under a number of different names including AEG Presents, Concerts West, Frontier Touring, Goldenvoice and Messina Touring Group. Some of our competitors in the live music industry have a stronger presence in certain markets, have access to other sports and entertainment venues and may have greater financial resources in those markets, which may enable them to gain a greater competitive advantage in relation to us.In markets where we own or operate a venue, we compete with other venues to serve artists likely to perform in that general region. Consequently, touring artists have various alternatives to our venues when scheduling tours. Our main competitors in venue management include ASM Global, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., The Nederlander Organization and Bowery Presents, in addition to numerous smaller regional companies in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Some of our competitors in venue management may have more attractive or a greater number of venues in certain markets, and may have greater financial resources in those markets.The ticketing services industry includes the sale of tickets primarily through online and mobile channels, but also through telephone and ticket outlets. The transition to online and mobile ticket purchases has made it easier for technology-based companies to offer primary ticketing services and standalone, automated ticketing systems that enable venues to perform their own ticketing services or utilize self-ticketing systems. As online and mobile ticket purchases increase, it has made it easier for technology-based companies to offer primary ticketing services and standalone, automated ticketing systems that enable venues to perform their own ticketing services or utilize self-ticketing systems. In the online environment, we compete with other websites, online event sites and ticketing companies to provide event information, sell tickets and provide other online services such as fan clubs and artist websites. We experience competition from other national, regional and local primary ticketing service providers to secure new venue clients and to reach fans for events. Resale, or secondary, ticketing services have created more aggressive buying of primary tickets whereby certain brokers are using automated internet “bot” technology to attempt to buy the best tickets when they go on sale, notwithstanding federal and state prohibitions. We actively develop and apply methods to mitigate the impact of these bots, however, the bot technology constantly evolves and changes. The internet allows fans and other ticket resellers to reach a vastly larger audience through the aggregation of inventory on resale websites and marketplaces, and provides consumers with more convenient access to tickets for a larger number and greater variety of events.8We also face significant and increasing competition from companies that sell self-ticketing systems, as well as from venues that choose to integrate self-ticketing systems into their existing operations or acquire primary ticketing service providers. We also face significant and increasing competition from companies that sell self-ticketing systems, as well as from venues that choose to integrate self-ticketing systems into their existing operations or acquire primary ticketing service providers. Our competitors include primary ticketing companies such as Tickets.com, AXS, Paciolan, Inc., CTS Eventim AG, Eventbrite, eTix, SeatGeek, Ticketek, See Tickets and Dice; secondary ticketing companies such as StubHub, Vivid Seats, Viagogo and SeatGeek; and many others, including large technology and ecommerce companies that could enter these markets., CTS Eventim AG, Eventbrite, eTix, SeatGeek, Ticketek, See Tickets and Dice; secondary ticketing companies such as StubHub, Vivid Seats, Viagogo and SeatGeek; and many others, including large technology and ecommerce companies that we understand have recently entered or could enter these markets. Our main competitors at the local market level for sponsorships and advertising dollars include local sports teams, which often offer state-of-the-art venues, strong brand association and attractive local media packages, as well as festivals, theme parks and other local events. On the national level, our competitors include the major sports leagues that sell sponsorships combined with significant national media packages.Government Regulations We are subject to federal, state and local laws, both domestically and internationally, governing matters such as: •privacy and the protection of personal or sensitive information; •compliance with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries; •primary ticketing and ticket resale services;•construction, renovation and operation of our venues; •licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances; •human health, safety, security and sanitation requirements; •the service of food and alcoholic beverages; •working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws; •compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), the United Kingdom’s Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (“DDA”) and similar regulations in other countries; •hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws; •sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes; •marketing activities via the telephone and online; and•historic landmark rules.We believe that we are materially in compliance with these laws. We are required to comply with federal, state and international laws regarding privacy and the storing, sharing, use, disclosure and protection of personally identifiable information and user data, an area that is increasingly subject to legislation and regulations in numerous jurisdictions around the world, including the European Union’s GDPR (as defined and discussed below in Item 1A.—Risk Factors) and the California Consumer Protection Act.We are required to comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate and also the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 regarding anti-bribery regulations. These regulations make it illegal for us to pay, promise to pay or receive money or anything of value to, or from, any government or foreign public official for the purpose of directly or indirectly obtaining or retaining business. This ban on illegal payments and bribes also applies to agents or intermediaries who use funds for purposes prohibited by the statute.From time to time, federal, state, local and international authorities and/or consumers commence investigations, inquiries or litigation with respect to our compliance with applicable consumer protection, advertising, unfair business practice, antitrust (and similar or related laws) and other laws, particularly as related to primary ticketing and ticket resale services.The regulations relating to our food service operations in our venues are many and complex. A variety of regulations at various governmental levels relating to the handling, preparation and serving of food, the cleanliness of food production facilities and the hygiene of food-handling personnel are enforced primarily at the local public health department level. We also must comply with applicable licensing laws, as well as state and local service laws, commonly called dram shop statutes. Dram shop statutes generally prohibit serving alcoholic beverages to certain persons such as an individual who is intoxicated or a minor. If we violate dram shop laws, we may be liable to third parties for the acts of the customer. Although we generally hire outside vendors to provide these services at our larger operated venues and regularly sponsor training programs designed to minimize the likelihood of such a situation, we cannot guarantee that intoxicated or minor customers will not be served or that liability for their acts will not be imposed on us. 9We are also required to comply with the ADA, the DDA and certain state statutes and local ordinances that, among other things, require that places of public accommodation, including our websites as well as existing and newly constructed venues, be accessible to customers with disabilities. The ADA and the DDA require that venues be constructed to permit persons with disabilities full use of a live entertainment venue. The ADA and the DDA may also require that certain modifications be made to existing venues to make them accessible to customers and employees who are disabled. In order to comply with the ADA, the DDA and other similar ordinances, we may face substantial capital expenditures in the future. From time to time, governmental bodies have proposed legislation that could affect our business. For example, some legislatures have proposed laws in the past that would impose potential liability on us and other promoters and producers of live music events for entertainment taxes and for incidents that occur at our events, particularly relating to drugs and alcohol. Some jurisdictions have also proposed legislation that would restrict ticketing methods or mandate ticket inventory disclosure. In addition, we and our venues are subject to extensive environmental laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, disposal, emission and release of hazardous and non-hazardous substances, as well as zoning and noise level restrictions which may affect, among other things, the hours of operations of and the type of events we can produce at our venues. Our People and CultureBringing more than 50,000 events to life and connecting over 765 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms, as we did in 2023, is a massive undertaking, made possible by our thousands of employees spread across 45 countries. Our People and CultureBringing more than 17,200 events to life and connecting over 310 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms, as we did in 2021, is a massive undertaking, made possible by our thousands of employees spread across 45 countries. Our teams come together every day to grow our business, and we recognize our people are the key to our success—whether they’re putting on a show at one of our venues, selling tickets, working with our brand partners or supporting our businesses in a myriad of other ways.Taking Care of Our OwnOur core value with our employees is “taking care of our own,” which means our top priority is making sure that every employee can rely on us to go above just providing standard compensation and benefits by offering assistance for a range of planned and unplanned situations. We also ensure that our employees have direct access to senior executives to raise concerns and share ideas. Our programs are structured under eight core pillars, designed to support key life moments:•Taking Care of Yourself: To enhance overall happiness and wellness, we offer flexible vacation time, free ticket perks and in-house and on-demand virtual meditation sessions, crisis support and crowdfunding networks, and more. Our programs are structured under seven core pillars, designed to support key life moments:10Table of Contents•Taking Care of Yourself: To enhance overall happiness and wellness, we offer flexible vacation time, free ticket perks and in-house meditation sessions, crisis support and crowdfunding networks, and more. In 2023, we launched Sober Nation providing sobriety and recovery support for our employees and community events that help destigmatize addiction and recovery in the industry.•Taking Care of Your Health: Beyond a full suite of medical, dental and vision benefits, we provide access to virtual doctor’s appointments.•Taking Care of Your Health: Beyond a full suite of medical, dental and vision benefits, we provide access to virtual doctor’s appointments and mental health services. •Taking Care of Your Mental Health: In 2023, we enhanced our mental well-being offerings for staff – increasing the amount of free virtual mental health coaching or therapy sessions, plus group support sessions, 24/7 counselor support line, and both in-person and virtual meditation and yoga sessions.•Taking Care of Your Family: We provide assistance with fertility needs such as egg-freezing, egg-donation and IVF, as well as adoption or surrogacy, primary caregiver leave for new parents, sick leave to care for loved ones, and leave for bereavement or end-of-life care.•Taking Care of Your Career: We offer many different career advancement opportunities including leadership workshops for mid-career employees, recognition for successful patent applications, live and on-demand training and tuition reimbursement to further an ongoing education.•Taking Care of Your Wealth: To support long-term financial goals, we traditionally provide 401(k) or pension matching, a stock reimbursement program, and student loan repayment assistance.•Taking Care of Your Wealth: To support long-term financial goals, we have traditionally provided 401(k) or pension matching, a stock reimbursement program, and student loan repayment assistance. •Taking Care of Our Own: During life’s most difficult moments, we offer employees financial support to help them through a variety of crises, including unexpected deaths, natural disasters, and escaping domestic violence. To this end, in partnership with Music Forward Foundation, we announced Crew Nation, a global relief fund which has provided financial support to over 16,000 live music crews in over 50 countries to which we have donated $15 million since March 2020. To this end, in March 2020, in partnership with House of Blues Music Forward Foundation, we announced Crew Nation, a global relief fund offering financial support to live music crews to which we have donated over $10 million. •Taking Care of Others: In order to empower our employees to get involved in causes that are meaningful to them, we provide paid time off for them to volunteer in their local communities.10Diversity, Inclusion and BelongingWe are continually striving towards our goal of being as diverse as the fans and artists that we serve, ensuring that we have the breadth of insights and perspectives to effectively serve artists, fans and other clients of all types.Diversity, Inclusion and BelongingWe are continually striving towards our goal of being as diverse as the fans and artists that we serve, with an aim to uplift people across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other underrepresented groups. Programs key to this mission include:•Promotion and Pay: Ongoing reviews of positions and compensation with the goal of ensuring that all employees across Live Nation are paid appropriately and provided with promotion opportunities, regardless of individual demographics. •Promotion and Pay: Ongoing reviews of positions and compensation with the goal of ensuring that all employees across Live Nation are paid appropriately and provided with promotion opportunities, regardless of individual demographics. •Employee Resource Groups: Our seven employee-led groups with executive leaders as sponsors provide programs that focus on empowering underrepresented groups within our employee base through career development, networking, talent development, advocacy, non-profit support and community outreach.•Diversity Goals: We remain committed to making continuous progress toward our ambitious representation goals – to strengthen the company’s diversity from the top down. Our efforts thus far have resulted in increasing overall representation at all levels of the business. Our efforts thus far have resulted in both hiring and promoting diverse talent into a number of key leadership roles. •Live Nation Women Fund: An early-stage investment fund we have created focused on female-led live music businesses.•Industry Engagement: In 2022, we further demonstrated our commitment to diversity and inclusion by joining the efforts of “Diversify The Stage” and signing their pledge to provide greater access to equitable opportunities for underrepresented groups in live music, events, and touring industries. We have also partnered with the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) to create a music business intensive course and paid internship program to train the next generation of diverse industry newcomers with the technical skills required to succeed in careers in the live industry. Our efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion have also gained us recognition on Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity list (2019, 2021-23), Forbes’ World’s Top Companies for Women (2023), Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women (2022-23), Forbes’ Best Employers for New Grads (2022-23), and Newsweek’s Americas Greatest Workplaces for Diversity List (2023-24), National List (2023), and Women List (2024). We have also earned a Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality designation by receiving high scores on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (2019-23).Human CapitalOur compensation philosophy is focused on attracting and retaining talented individuals who contribute to our values and help lead our dynamic and innovative environment. To determine market-competitive pay for our employees, we use a combination of entertainment and technology industry benchmarks.We are committed to encouraging and rewarding pay-for-performance that is aligned with business objectives in the best interest of our shareholders for long-term growth and profitability. We further strive to reward individual achievements and contributions that are both aligned with and supportive of our short- and long-term goals and core business values. We believe that our efforts in these areas are working and contributing to the overall success of the Company, as evidenced by accolades such as obtaining a Great Place to Work® certification (2017-19, 2022-23), placing on Forbes’ World’s Best Employers List (2023) and America’s Best Large Employers List (2022-24), placing on TIME’s World’s Best Companies (2023) and 100 Most Influential Companies (2023), and placing on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies List (2018-21, 2024) and 500 List (2010-2020, 2023). We believe that our efforts in these areas are working and contributing to the overall success of the Company, as evidenced by accolades such as obtaining a Great Place to Work® certification (2017-19), placing fourth on Indeed's list of the World's 50 Best Workplaces (2019), placing third on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for the music sector (2019), and our inclusion on Forbes’ Best Employers For Diversity list (2019). As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately 14,700 full-time employees. Our staffing needs vary significantly throughout the year and we also employ seasonal and part-time employees, primarily for our live music venues and festivals. At the end of 2023, we employed approximately 17,000 seasonal and part-time employees and during peak seasonal periods, particularly in the summer months, we employed as many as 31,500 seasonal and part-time employees in 2023.11Labor RelationsThe stagehands at some of our venues and other employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. Our union agreements typically have a term of three years and thus regularly expire and require negotiation in the course of our business. We believe that we have good relationships with our employees and other unionized labor involved in our events, and there have been no related significant work stoppages in the past three years. Upon the expiration of any of our collective bargaining agreements, however, we may be unable to renegotiate on terms favorable to us, and our business operations at one or more of our facilities may be interrupted as a result of labor disputes or difficulties and delays in the process of renegotiating our collective bargaining agreements. In addition, our business operations at one or more of our facilities may also be interrupted as a result of labor disputes by outside unions attempting to unionize a venue even though we do not have unionized labor at that venue currently. A work stoppage at one or more of our owned or operated venues or at our promoted events could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage will have on our business operations. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage will have on our results of operations. Information About Our Executive Officers Set forth below are the names, ages and current positions of our executive officers and other significant employees as of February 15, 2024.Michael Rapino is our President and Chief Executive Officer and has served in this capacity since August 2005. He has also served on our board of directors since December 2005. Mr. Rapino has worked for us or our predecessors since 1999.Carlos Alvarez is our Chief Technology Officer of Ticketmaster and has served in this capacity since September 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Alvarez served in various information technology roles since joining us in August 2014.Joe Berchtold is our President and Chief Financial Officer. He has served as President since December 2017 and Chief Financial Officer since July 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Berchtold served as our Chief Operating Officer since joining us in April 2011.Brian Capo is our Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in December 2007.Brian Capo is our Chief Accounting Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in December 2007. Liz Dyer is our Senior Vice President of Human Resources and has served in this capacity since September 2020. Prior to that, Ms. Dyer served in various human resources roles since joining us in April 2016.Johnel Evans is our Global Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and has served in this capacity since joining us in June 2021.12Table of ContentsJohnel Evans is our Global Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and has served in this capacity since joining us in June 2021. Prior to that, Ms. Evans was the Vice President, Inclusion Diversity & Engagement at Becton Dickinson and Company from September 2018 to June 2021 and Vice President, Human Resources of Becton Dickinson and Company’s Vascular Access Division from November 2015 to September 2018.Arthur Fogel is the Chairman of our Global Music group and President of our Global Touring division and has served in these capacities since 2005. Mr. Fogel has worked for us or our predecessors since 1999.12Kaitlyn Henrich is our Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Social Impact and has served in this capacity since January 2022. Prior to that, Ms. Henrich served in various corporate communications roles since joining us in January 2016.John Hopmans is our Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Finance and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2008. John Hopmans is our Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Finance and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2008. Bob Roux is President of our U.S. Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. Mr. Roux has worked for us or our predecessors since 1990.Michael Rowles is our General Counsel and has served in this capacity since joining us in March 2006 and as our Secretary since May 2007. Michael Rowles is our General Counsel and has served in this capacity since joining us in March 2006 and as our Secretary since May 2007. Russell Wallach is President of our Sponsorship and Advertising division and has served in this capacity since July 2006. Mr. Wallach has worked for us or our predecessors since 1996.Michael Wichser is our Chief Operating Officer of Ticketmaster and has served in this capacity since January 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Wichser served in various mergers and acquisitions and strategy and development roles since joining us in September 2014.Mark Yovich is President of Ticketmaster and has served in this capacity since December 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Yovich served as President of Ticketmaster’s International division since November 2011. Mr. Yovich has worked for us or our predecessors since 2000.Available InformationWe are required to file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any materials we have filed with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Our filings with the SEC are also available to the public through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. You can find more information about us online at our investor relations website located at www.investors.livenationentertainment.com.Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with the SEC.
The information posted on or accessible through our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the other information set forth in this Annual Report. The following risks relate principally to our business and operations, our leverage and our common stock. If any of the risks and uncertainties develop into actual events, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline.Risks Relating to Our Business and the Live Events and Ticketing Industries Our business is highly sensitive to public tastes and is dependent on our ability to secure popular artists and other live music events, and we and our ticketing clients may be unable to anticipate or respond to changes in consumer preferences, which may result in decreased demand for our services. Our business is highly sensitive to rapidly changing public tastes and is dependent on the availability of popular artists and events. Our live entertainment business depends in part on our ability to anticipate the tastes of consumers and to offer events that appeal to them. Since we rely on unrelated parties to create and perform at live music events, any unwillingness to tour or lack of availability of popular artists could limit our ability to generate revenue. In particular, there are a limited number of artists that can headline a major North American or global tour or who can sell out larger venues, including many of our amphitheaters. If those artists do not choose to tour, or if we are unable to secure the rights to their future tours, then our concerts business would be adversely affected. Our artist management business could be adversely affected if the artists it represents do not tour or perform as frequently as anticipated, or if such tours or performances are not as widely attended by fans as anticipated due to changing tastes, general economic conditions or otherwise. Our ticketing business relies on third parties to create and perform live entertainment, sporting and leisure events and to price tickets to such events. Accordingly, our ticketing business’ success depends, in part, upon the ability of these third parties to correctly anticipate public demand for particular events, as well as the availability of popular artists, entertainers and teams.In addition, our live entertainment business typically books our live music tours four to eight months in advance of the beginning of the tour and often agrees to pay an artist a fixed guaranteed amount prior to our receiving any revenue.15Table of ContentsIn addition, our live entertainment business typically books our live music tours four to eight months in advance of the beginning of the tour and often agrees to pay an artist a fixed guaranteed amount prior to our receiving any revenue. Therefore, 13if the public is not receptive to the tour, or we or an artist cancel the tour, we may incur a loss for the tour depending on the amount of the fixed guarantee or incurred costs relative to any revenue earned, as well as revenue we could have earned at booked venues. We have cancellation insurance policies in place to cover a portion of our losses if an artist cancels a tour but such policies may not be sufficient and are subject to deductibles. Furthermore, consumer preferences change from time to time, and our failure to anticipate, identify or react to these changes could result in reduced demand for our services, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our business depends on relationships between key promoters, executives, agents, managers, artists and clients and any adverse changes in these relationships could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The live music business is uniquely dependent upon personal relationships, as promoters and executives within live music companies such as ours leverage their existing network of relationships with artists, agents and managers in order to secure the rights to the live music tours and events which are critical to our success. Due to the importance of those industry contacts to our business, the loss of any of our promoters, officers or other key personnel could adversely affect our business. Although we have entered into long-term agreements with many of those individuals described above to protect our interests in those relationships, we can give no assurance that all or any of these key employees or managers will remain with us or will retain their associations with key business contacts, including music artists, as some agreements between a manager and an artist are not for a fixed period of time and are instead terminable at will. The success of our ticketing business depends, in significant part, on our ability to maintain and renew relationships with existing clients and to establish new client relationships. We anticipate that, for the foreseeable future, the substantial majority of our Ticketing segment revenue will be derived from both online and mobile sales of tickets. We also expect that revenue from primary ticketing services, which consists primarily of our portion of per ticket convenience charges and per order service fees, will continue to comprise the substantial majority of our Ticketing segment revenue. We cannot provide assurances that we will be able to maintain existing client contracts, or enter into or maintain new client contracts, on acceptable terms, if at all, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Another important component of our success is our ability to maintain existing and to build new relationships with third-party distribution channels, advertisers, sponsors and service providers. Any adverse change in these relationships, including the inability of these parties to fulfill their obligations to our businesses for any reason, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We face intense competition in the live music and ticketing industries, and we may not be able to maintain or increase our current revenue, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our businesses are in highly competitive industries, and we may not be able to maintain or increase our current revenue due to such competition. The live music industry competes with other forms of entertainment for consumers’ discretionary spending and within this industry we compete with other venues to book artists, and, in the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from other promoters and venue operators. Our competitors compete with us for key employees who have relationships with popular music artists and who have a history of being able to book such artists for concerts and tours. These competitors may engage in more extensive development efforts, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and make more attractive offers to existing and potential artists. Due to increasing artist influence and competition to attract and maintain artist clients, we may enter into agreements on terms that are less favorable to us, which could negatively impact our financial results. Our competitors may develop services, advertising options or music venues that are equal or superior to those we provide or that achieve greater market acceptance and brand recognition than we achieve. Within the live music industry, our artist management business also competes with numerous other artist management companies and individual managers in the United States alone, both to discover new and emerging artists and to represent established artists. Across the live music industry, it is possible that new competitors may emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share.Our ticketing business faces significant competition from other national, regional and local primary ticketing service providers to secure new and retain existing clients on a continuous basis.16Table of ContentsOur ticketing business faces significant competition from other national, regional and local primary ticketing service providers to secure new and retain existing clients on a continuous basis. Additionally, we face significant and increasing challenges from companies that sell self-ticketing systems and from clients who choose to self-ticket, through the integration of such systems into their existing operations or the acquisition of primary ticket services providers or by increasing sales through venue box offices and season and subscription sales. We also face competition in the resale of tickets from resale marketplaces and from other ticket resellers with online distribution capabilities. The advent of new technology, particularly as it relates to online ticketing, has amplified this competition. The intense competition that we face in the ticketing industry could cause the volume of our ticketing services business to decline. As we are also a content provider and venue operator we may face direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients, who primarily include live event content providers. This direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients could result in a decline in the number of ticketing clients we have and a decline in the volume of our ticketing business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. 14In the secondary ticket sales market, we have restrictions on our business that are not faced by our competitors, imposed as a result of agreements entered into with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Attorneys General of several individual states, and various international governing bodies. These restrictions include: a requirement to clearly and conspicuously disclose on any primary ticketing website where a link or redirect to a resale website owned or controlled by us is posted, that the link is directing the user to a resale website and that ticket prices often exceed the ticket’s original price; and a requirement to make certain clear and conspicuous disclosures and in certain instances disclose when a ticket being offered for resale is not “in-hand” as well as a requirement to monitor and enforce the compliance of third parties offering tickets on our websites with such disclosure requirements. There are certain state laws that now ban such speculative ticket listings, and the New York Attorney General has in the past brought lawsuits against resale companies for these practices. There are certain state laws that now ban such ticket listings, and the New York Attorney General has in the past brought lawsuits against resale companies for these practices. Other variables related to the competitive environment that could adversely affect our financial performance by, among other things, leading to decreases in overall revenue, the number of sponsors, event attendance, ticket prices and fees or profit margins include:•an increased level of competition for advertising dollars, which may lead to lower sponsorships as we attempt to retain advertisers or which may cause us to lose advertisers to our competitors offering better programs that we are unable or unwilling to match; •unfavorable fluctuations in operating costs, including increased guarantees to artists, which we may be unwilling or unable to pass through to our customers via higher ticket prices; •inability or unwillingness to fund the significant up-front cash requirements associated with our touring and ticketing businesses due to insufficient cash on hand or capacity under our senior secured credit facility, which could result in the loss of key tours to competitors or the inability to secure and retain ticketing clients;•competitors’ offerings that may include more favorable terms than we do in order to obtain agreements for new venues or ticketing arrangements or to obtain events for the venues they operate; •technological changes and innovations that we are unable to adopt or are late in adopting that offer more attractive entertainment alternatives than we or other live entertainment providers currently offer, which may lead to a reduction in attendance at live events, a loss of ticket sales or lower ticket fees; and•other entertainment options available to our audiences that we do not offer.Our success depends, in significant part, on entertainment, sporting and leisure events and economic and other factors adversely affecting such events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. A decline in attendance at or reduction in the number of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events may have an adverse effect on our revenue and operating income. In addition, during periods of economic slowdown and recession, many consumers have historically reduced their discretionary spending and advertisers have reduced their advertising expenditures. The impact of economic slowdowns on our business is difficult to predict, but they may result in reductions in ticket sales, sponsorship opportunities and our ability to generate revenue. The risks associated with our businesses may become more acute in periods of a slowing economy or recession, which may be accompanied by a decrease in attendance at live entertainment, sporting and leisure events. Many of the factors affecting the number and availability of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events are beyond our control. For instance, certain sports leagues have experienced labor disputes leading to threatened or actual player lockouts. Any such lockouts that result in shortened or canceled seasons would adversely impact our business to the extent that we provide ticketing services to the affected teams both due to the loss of games and ticketing opportunities as well as the possibility of decreased attendance following such a lockout due to adverse fan reaction. Our business depends on discretionary consumer and corporate spending. Many factors related to corporate spending and discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as unemployment levels, fuel prices, interest rates, changes in tax rates and tax laws that impact companies or individuals, and inflation can significantly impact our operating results. Business conditions, as well as various industry conditions, including corporate marketing and promotional spending and interest levels, can also significantly impact our operating results. These factors can affect attendance at our events, premium seat sales, sponsorship, advertising and hospitality spending, concession and merchandise sales, as well as the financial results of sponsors of our venues, events and the industry. Negative factors such as challenging economic conditions and public concerns over terrorism and security incidents, particularly when combined, can impact corporate and consumer spending, and one negative factor can impact our results more than another. There can be no assurance that consumer and corporate spending will not be adversely impacted by current economic conditions, or by any future deterioration in economic conditions, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.We are dependent upon our ability to lease, acquire and develop live music venues, and if we are unable to do so on acceptable terms, or at all, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Our Concerts and Sponsorship & Advertising segments require access to venues to generate revenue from live music events. For these events, we use venues that we own, but we also operate a number of our live music venues under various 15agreements which include leases with third parties, ownership through an equity interest or booking agreements, which are agreements where we contract to book the events at a venue for a specific period of time. Our long-term success in the live music business will depend in part on the availability of venues, our ability to lease these venues and our ability to enter into booking agreements upon their expiration. As many of these agreements are with third parties over whom we have little or no control, we may be unable to renew these agreements or enter into new agreements on acceptable terms or at all, and may be unable to obtain favorable agreements with venues. Our ability to renew these agreements or obtain new agreements on favorable terms depends on a number of other factors, many of which are also beyond our control, such as national and local business conditions and competition from other promoters. If the cost of renewing these agreements is too high or the terms of any new agreement with a new venue are unacceptable or incompatible with our existing operations, we may decide to forego these opportunities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to renew these agreements on acceptable terms or at all, or that we will be able to obtain attractive agreements with substitute venues, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We may continue to expand our operations through the development of live music venues and the expansion of existing live music venues, which poses a number of risks, including: •construction of live music venues may result in cost overruns, delays or unanticipated expenses; •desirable sites for live music venues may be unavailable or costly; and •the attractiveness of our venue locations may deteriorate over time. Growth or maintenance of our existing revenue depends in part on consistent investment in our venues. Therefore, we expect to continue to make substantial capital improvements to meet long-term increasing demand, improve value and grow revenue. We frequently have a number of significant capital projects underway. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, may influence the ultimate costs and timing of various capital improvements.The amount of capital expenditures can vary significantly from year to year. In addition, actual costs could vary materially from our estimates if our assumptions about the quality of materials, equipment or workmanship required or the cost of financing such expenditures were to change. Construction is also subject to governmental permitting processes which, if changed, could materially affect the ultimate cost. Additionally, the market potential of live music venue sites cannot be precisely determined, and our live music venues may face competition in markets from unexpected sources. Newly constructed live music venues may not perform up to our expectations. We face significant competition for potential live music venue locations and for opportunities to acquire existing live music venues. Because of this competition, we may be unable to add to or maintain the number of our live music venues on terms we consider acceptable. There is the risk of personal injuries and accidents in connection with our live music events, which could subject us to personal injury or other claims and increase our expenses, as well as reduce attendance at our live music events, causing a decrease in our revenue.There are inherent risks involved with producing live music events. As a result, personal injuries and accidents have occurred, and may in the future occur, from time to time, which could subject us to claims and liabilities for personal injuries. Incidents in connection with our live music events at any of our venues or festival sites that we own or rent could also result in claims, reducing operating income or reducing attendance at our events, which could cause a decrease in our revenue. We have been subject to wrongful death claims and are currently subject to other litigation. In addition, while we have security protocols in place at our events, illegal drug use or alcohol consumption at our events could result in negative publicity, adverse consequences (including illness, injury or death) to the persons engaged in such activities or others, and litigation against us. While we maintain insurance policies that provide coverage within limits that are sufficient, in management’s judgment, to protect us from material financial loss for personal injuries sustained by persons at our venues or events or accidents in the ordinary course of business, there can be no assurance that such insurance will be adequate at all times and in all circumstances.On November 5, 2021, the Astroworld music festival was held in Houston, Texas. During the course of the festival, ten members of the audience sustained fatal injuries and others suffered non-fatal injuries. Following these events, hundreds of civil lawsuits have been filed against Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and related entities, asserting insufficient crowd control and other theories, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. These events were the subject of an inquiry we received from the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform. We may incur material liabilities from the 2021 Astroworld event, for which it is currently expected liability insurance can provide sufficient coverage, but at this time there are no assurances of such adequacy of coverage. In addition, this could negatively impact our business, including our ability to obtain reasonably priced insurance coverage for future events, costs of operating security at events and other cost and commercial ramifications. These effects could have a material impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or cash flows.16Poor weather adversely affects attendance at our live music events, which could negatively impact our financial performance from period to period. We promote and/or ticket many live music events. Weather conditions surrounding these events affect sales of tickets, concessions and merchandise, among other things. Poor weather conditions can have a material effect on our results of operations particularly because we promote and/or ticket a finite number of events. Increased weather variability due to climate change exacerbates weather-related issues we face. Due to weather conditions, we may be required to cancel or reschedule an event to another available day or a different venue, which would increase our costs for the event and could negatively impact the attendance at the event, as well as concession and merchandise sales. Poor weather can affect current periods as well as successive events in future periods. Risks Relating to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Intellectual PropertyThe success of our ticketing business and other operations depends, in part, on the integrity of our systems and infrastructure, as well as affiliate and third-party computer systems, computer networks and other communication systems. System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in these systems and infrastructure may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in the information systems and infrastructure, both of our own ticketing systems and other computer systems and of affiliate and third-party software, computer networks and other communications systems service providers on which we rely, may adversely affect our ability to operate websites, process and fulfill transactions, respond to customer inquiries and generally maintain cost-efficient operations. Such interruptions could occur by virtue of natural disaster, malicious actions such as hacking or acts of terrorism or war, or human error. In addition, the loss of some or all of certain key personnel could require us to expend additional resources to continue to maintain our software and systems and could subject us to systems interruptions. The large infrastructure plant that is required to operate our systems requires an ongoing investment of time, money and effort to maintain or refresh hardware and software and to ensure it remains at a level capable of servicing the demand and volume of business that Ticketmaster receives. Failure to do so may result in system instability, degradation in performance, or unfixable security vulnerabilities that could adversely impact both the business and the consumers utilizing our services.While we have backup systems for certain aspects of our operations, disaster recovery planning by its nature cannot be sufficient for all eventualities. In addition, we may not have adequate insurance coverage to compensate for losses from a major interruption. If any of these adverse events were to occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Data loss or other breaches of our network security could materially harm our business and results of operations, and the processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information could give rise to liabilities and additional costs as a result of governmental regulation, litigation and conflicting legal requirements relating to personal privacy rights.Due to the nature of our business, we process, store, use, transfer and disclose certain personal or sensitive information about our customers and employees.19Table of ContentsDue to the nature of our business, we process, store, use, transfer and disclose certain personal or sensitive information about our customers and employees. Penetration of our network or other misappropriation or misuse of personal or sensitive information and data, including credit card information and other personally identifiable information, could cause interruptions in our operations and subject us to increased costs, litigation, inquiries and actions from governmental authorities, and financial or other liabilities. In addition, security breaches, incidents or the inability to protect information could lead to increased incidents of ticketing fraud and counterfeit tickets. Security breaches and incidents could also significantly damage our reputation with consumers, ticketing clients and other third parties, and could result in significant costs related to remediation efforts, such as credit or identity theft monitoring. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer and employee information and to prevent security breaches or incidents (which could result in data loss or other harm or loss), such measures cannot provide absolute security or certainty. It is possible that advances in computer and hacker capabilities, new variants of malware, the development of new penetration methods and tools, inadvertent violations of company policies or procedures or other developments could result in a compromise of customer or employee information or a breach of the technology and security processes that are used to protect customer and employee information. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, automate or expedite transactions or other activities on our platform, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems (or otherwise bring about one or more of these effects) may change frequently and as a result, may be difficult for our business to detect for long periods of time and may impact the efficacy of our defenses and/or the products and services we provide. In addition, despite our best efforts, we may be unaware of or unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We have expended significant capital and other resources to protect against and remedy such potential security breaches, incidents and their consequences, including the establishment of a dedicated cybersecurity organization within our larger technology environment, and will continue to do so in the future.17We also face risks associated with security breaches and incidents affecting third parties with which we are affiliated or with which we otherwise conduct business. We also face risks associated with security breaches and incidents affecting third parties with which we are affiliated or with which we otherwise conduct business. In particular, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain, and have contained, defects in design or manufacture and/or may pose a security risk that could unexpectedly compromise information security, but none of which have been material to date. In particular, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture and/or may pose a security risk that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Consumers are generally concerned with the security and privacy of the internet, and any publicized security problems affecting our businesses and/or third parties may discourage consumers from doing business with us, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.In addition to the above concerns related to network and data security, the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security and retention of personal or sensitive information and other user data are governed by existing and evolving federal, state and international laws. In addition to the above concerns related to network and data security, the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security and retention of personal or sensitive information and other user data are governed by existing and evolving federal, state and international laws. We have expended significant capital and other resources to keep abreast of the evolving privacy landscape, including the establishment of a dedicated global privacy organization within our legal team. However, our business could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in business practices or policies (including, for example, practices or policies regarding the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and retention of personal or sensitive information), or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement legislation or regulations in a manner which negatively affects our business, financial condition and/or results of operations. Due to the changes in the data privacy regulatory environment, we may incur additional costs and challenges to our business that restrict or limit our ability to collect, transfer, use, disclose, secure, or retain personal or sensitive information. These changes in data privacy laws may require us to modify our current or future products, services, programs, practices or policies, which may in turn impact the products and services available to our customers.Regulators and government enforcement actions worldwide are imposing significant fines against companies for data privacy violations. Regulators and government enforcement actions worldwide are imposing significant fines against companies for data privacy violations. Our business operations, including our ticketing business, involve the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and disposal of personal or sensitive information in various locations around the world, including the European Union (“E.U.”), where the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) governs data privacy and can result in the imposition of significant fines and penalties. In addition, following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (“U. In addition, following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the E. K.”) from the E.U. on December 31, 2020, we were required to separately comply with the U.K.’s data protection law, under which additional fines and penalties could be imposed independent of the GDPR. U.K. data protection law has continued to evolve and, notwithstanding the current E.U. decision that allows data to be transferred from the E.U. to the U.K., we anticipate additional changes to U.K. data protection law within the next 12-18 months. In the United States, several states (including California, Virginia, and Colorado) have required us to update our policies and procedures to continue to protect data as required under those laws. In the United States, several new comprehensive privacy laws, including in California, Virginia and Colorado, which go into effect in 2023, will require us to update our policies and procedures to continue to protect data as required under those laws. State and federal legislators in the United States continue to consider, and enact, new privacy laws, which may require further updates to ensure compliance. Additional changes to data privacy laws and regulations around the world, including in the E.U., U.K., and/or the United States, could lead to additional compliance costs and could increase our overall risk.As we expand our operations into new jurisdictions, the costs associated with compliance with applicable local data privacy laws and regulations increases.20Table of ContentsAs we expand our operations into new jurisdictions, the costs associated with compliance with applicable local data privacy laws and regulations increases. It is possible that government or industry regulation in these markets will require us to deviate from our standard processes and/or make changes to our products, services and operations, which will increase operational cost and risk.Our failure or the failure of the various third-party vendors and service providers with which we are affiliated or otherwise conduct business to comply with applicable federal, state or international laws and regulations and/or to comply with our privacy policies and/or or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized collection, transfer, use or disclosure of personal or sensitive information or other user data may result in negative publicity resulting in reputation or brand damage, may discourage potential users from purchasing tickets or trying our products and services, and may result in proceedings/fines by governmental agencies and/or private litigation brought by consumers; the realization of one or all of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing upon intellectual property rights of third parties. We regard our intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and similar intellectual property (as applicable) as critical to our success. We also rely heavily upon software codes, informational databases and other components that make up our products and services.18We have been granted trademark registrations and patents and/or have trademark and patent applications pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and/or various foreign authorities for various proprietary trademarks, technologies and other inventions. Any patent or trademark application filed may not result in a patent or trademark registration being issued, or existing or future patents or trademarks may not be adjudicated valid by a court or be afforded adequate protection against competitors. Likewise, the issuance of a patent or trademark registration to us does not mean that its processes, inventions or trademark will not be found to infringe upon rights previously issued to third parties. We rely on a combination of laws and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others to establish and protect these proprietary rights. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization which, if discovered, might require legal action to correct. In addition, third parties may independently and lawfully develop substantially similar intellectual properties. From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties. Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights in a meaningful manner or challenges to related contractual rights could result in erosion of brand names or other intellectual property and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.Risks Relating to Governmental Regulation and LitigationWe operate in international markets which subject us to risks associated with the legislative, judicial, accounting, regulatory, political and economic risks and conditions specific to such markets, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.We provide services in various jurisdictions abroad through a number of brands and businesses that we own and operate, as well as through joint ventures, and we expect to continue to expand our international presence. We face, and expect to continue to face, additional risks in the case of our existing and future international operations, including: •political instability, adverse changes in diplomatic relations and unfavorable economic and business conditions in the markets in which we currently have international operations or into which we may expand, particularly in the case of emerging markets; •more restrictive or otherwise unfavorable government regulation of the live entertainment and ticketing industries, which could result in increased compliance costs and/or otherwise restrict the manner in which we provide services and the amount of related fees charged for such services; •limitations on the enforcement of intellectual property rights; •limitations on the ability of foreign subsidiaries to repatriate profits or otherwise remit earnings; •adverse tax consequences due both to the complexity of operating across multiple tax regimes as well as changes in, or new interpretations of, international tax treaties and structures; •expropriations of property and risks of renegotiation or modification of existing agreements with governmental authorities; •diminished ability to legally enforce our contractual rights in foreign countries; •limitations on technology infrastructure, which could limit our ability to migrate international operations to a common ticketing system; •variability in venue security standards and accepted practices;•lower levels of internet usage, credit card usage and consumer spending in comparison to those in the United States; and •difficulties in managing operations and adapting to consumer desires due to distance, language and cultural differences, including issues associated with (i) business practices and customs that are common in certain foreign countries but might be prohibited by United States law and our internal policies and procedures, and (ii) management and operational systems and infrastructures, including internal financial control and reporting systems and functions, staffing and managing of foreign operations, which we might not be able to do effectively or cost-efficiently. We face, and expect to continue to face, additional risks in the case of our existing and future international operations, including: •political instability, adverse changes in diplomatic relations and unfavorable economic and business conditions in the markets in which we currently have international operations or into which we may expand, particularly in the case of emerging markets; •more restrictive or otherwise unfavorable government regulation of the live entertainment and ticketing industries, which could result in increased compliance costs and/or otherwise restrict the manner in which we provide services and the amount of related fees charged for such services; •limitations on the enforcement of intellectual property rights; •limitations on the ability of foreign subsidiaries to repatriate profits or otherwise remit earnings; •adverse tax consequences due both to the complexity of operating across multiple tax regimes as well as changes in, or new interpretations of, international tax treaties and structures; •expropriations of property and risks of renegotiation or modification of existing agreements with governmental authorities; •diminished ability to legally enforce our contractual rights in foreign countries; 21Table of Contents•limitations on technology infrastructure, which could limit our ability to migrate international operations to a common ticketing system; •variability in venue security standards and accepted practices;•lower levels of internet usage, credit card usage and consumer spending in comparison to those in the United States; and •difficulties in managing operations and adapting to consumer desires due to distance, language and cultural differences, including issues associated with (i) business practices and customs that are common in certain foreign countries but might be prohibited by United States law and our internal policies and procedures, and (ii) management and operational systems and infrastructures, including internal financial control and reporting systems and functions, staffing and managing of foreign operations, which we might not be able to do effectively or cost-efficiently. As we expand into new markets these risks will be intensified and will have the potential to impact a greater percentage of our business and operating results. Our ability to expand our international operations into new jurisdictions, or further into existing jurisdictions will depend, in significant part, on our ability to identify potential acquisition candidates, joint venture or other partners, and enter into arrangements with these parties on favorable terms, as well as our ability to make continued investments to maintain and grow existing international operations. If the revenue generated by international operations is insufficient to offset expenses incurred in connection with the maintenance and growth of these operations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, in an effort to make 19international operations in one or more given jurisdictions profitable over the long term, significant additional investments that are not profitable over the short term could be required over a prolonged period. In foreign countries in which we operate, a risk exists that our employees, contractors or agents could, in contravention of our policies, engage in business practices prohibited by applicable United States laws and regulations, such as the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as the laws and regulations of other countries prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials such as the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. We maintain policies prohibiting such business practices and have in place global anti-corruption compliance and training programs designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations. Nevertheless, the risk remains that one or more of our employees, contractors or agents, including those based in or from countries where practices that violate such United States laws and regulations or the laws and regulations of other countries may be customary, as well as those associated with newly-acquired businesses, will engage in business practices that are prohibited by our policies, circumvent our compliance programs and, by doing so, violate such laws and regulations. Any such violations, even if prohibited by our internal policies, could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us and/or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.In addition, given our substantial operations in the U.K. and the E.U., risks and uncertainties remain as a result of the new trading agreement between the U.K. and the E.U. following the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. The U.K. has agreed to “third country” trading status in a new E. has agreed “third country” trading status in a new E. U.-U.K. Trade and Cooperation Agreement which sets out arrangements in areas such as tariff-free trade in goods. The trade agreement sets out arrangements in areas such as tariff-free trade in goods. The level of economic integration that existed while the U.K. was an E.U. Member State has lessened with some additional bureaucracy and cost with customs formalities, VAT, excise duties and ATA carnets for goods moved between the U. There will be additional bureaucracy and cost with customs formalities, VAT, excise duties and ATA carnets for goods moved between the U. K. and the E.U. A review of the U.K.-E.U. Trade and Cooperation Agreement is due to start in May 2026. Trade and Cooperation Agreement applicable from January 1, 2021. These risks and uncertainties include some regulatory uncertainty for data protection. It has been confirmed that the U.K. ICO will not be able to act as the single authority for E.U. multinationals; this means that E.U. multinationals will often have two regulators; one for U.K. activities and one for the rest of the E.U. where cross-border processing takes place. Live Nation has been assigned a new lead authority based on its cross-border processing, so it continues to have a main point of contact for the E.U. In addition, the U.K. is now not part of the E.U. for purposes of data transfers. The GDPR principle that data cannot leave the E.U. (to the U.K. in this case) now applies, however the U.K. has been granted adequacy by the E.U., allowing data to continue to flow to the U.K. Live Nation has already documented data flows to identify where U.K. flows occur and have contractual templates prepared. We have incorporated the U.K.’s International Data Transfer Agreement into any transfer from the U.’s International Data Transfer Agreement laid out before the U. K. and will continue to monitor whether the U. and will monitor whether the U. K. will implement an adequacy system, as proposed by the U.K. government’s data reform package, so we are prepared to comply with any transfer limitation obligations under the U.K. regime.Live Nation as a tour sponsor will continue to use temporary worker routes into the U.K. now including E.U. and European Economic Area musicians and crew on the sponsor’s license. For tours in Europe, U.K. musicians’ working arrangements will be subject to individual E.U. member states and bilateral agreements reached with the U.K. Government. In the majority of member states the working arrangements will be similar, such as in France and Germany. In others, there may be new requirements for the sponsor. Starting in mid-2025 a European visa-waiver system (ETIAS – European Travel Information and Authorization System) will be required for visitors from 60 visa-exempt countries to enter 30 European countries for a short stay. All United States citizens travelling to the E.U. will need to register with ETIAS. In the U. and the E. K. an Electronic Travel Authorization scheme (ETA) is now in operation for visitors from Qatar. From February 22, 2024, it will be required for passport holders from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. By the end of 2024, ETAs will be a worldwide requirement for visitors who do not need a visa for short stays to the U.K.We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, and our failure to comply with these regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.22Table of ContentsWe are subject to extensive governmental regulation, and our failure to comply with these regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our operations are subject to federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations, policies and procedures, both domestically and internationally, which are subject to change at any time, governing matters such as: •privacy laws and protection of personal or sensitive information, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information;•compliance with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our international operations;•primary ticketing and ticket resale services;•construction, renovation and operation of our venues; •licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances; •human health, safety, security and sanitation requirements; 20•the service of food and alcoholic beverages; •working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws; •compliance with the ADA and the DDA; •hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws; •sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes; •marketing activities via the telephone and online; and •historic landmark rules. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in proceedings/fines against us by governmental agencies and private actions brought by consumers, which if material, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we attempt to conduct our business and operations in a manner that we believe to be in compliance with such laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that a law or regulation will not be interpreted or enforced in a manner contrary to our current understanding of the law or regulation. In addition, the promulgation of new laws, rules and regulations could restrict or unfavorably impact our business, which could decrease demand for services, reduce revenue, increase costs and/or subject us to additional liabilities. For example, some legislatures have proposed laws in the past that would impose potential liability on us and other promoters and producers of live music events for entertainment taxes and for incidents that occur at our events, particularly relating to drugs and alcohol. New legislation could be passed that may negatively impact our business, such as provisions that have recently been proposed in various jurisdictions. New legislation could be passed that may negatively impact our business, such as provisions that have recently been proposed in various jurisdictions that would restrict ticketing methods. Additionally, governmental actions such as the current sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and European regulators on certain Russian individuals and entities, as well as other sanctions elsewhere in the world, could restrict or limit our business activities in certain areas or subject us to sanction for noncompliance, even if inadvertent.From time to time, federal, state and local authorities and/or consumers commence investigations, inquiries or litigation with respect to our compliance with applicable consumer protection, advertising, unfair business practice, antitrust (and similar or related laws) and other laws. Our businesses have historically cooperated with authorities in connection with these investigations and have satisfactorily resolved each such material investigation, inquiry or litigation. We are currently subject to agreements with the States of New Jersey, Maryland, Nevada, and Illinois and the FTC which govern, and in certain cases place limitations on, our ticketing resale practices. We are currently subject to agreements with the States of New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois and the FTC which govern, and in certain cases place limitations on, our ticketing resale practices. Our competitors in the secondary ticket sales market are not, to our knowledge, bound by such limitations (other than as a result of laws that apply equally to all secondary ticket sellers) and as a result, we may be at a competitive disadvantage. From time to time, other states, Canadian provinces and the federal government have commenced investigations or inquiries related to other aspects of our ticketing business, including a now-settled suit brought by the Canadian Competition Bureau relating to alleged deceptive marketing practices. In addition, in January 2020, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend the duration of the consent decree we entered into in connection with our merger with Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restraints on our business (see the risk factor entitled “We agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. In addition, in January 2020, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend the duration of the consent decree we entered into in connection with our merger with Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restraints on our business (see the risk factor entitled “We recently agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business” below). We have incurred legal expenses in connection with the defense of governmental investigations and litigation in the past and may be required to incur additional expenses in the future regarding such investigations and litigation. In the case of antitrust (and similar or related) matters, any adverse outcome could limit or prevent us from engaging in the ticketing business generally (or in a particular segment thereof) or subject us to potential damage assessments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings may adversely affect our business and operating results. 23Table of ContentsUnfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings may adversely affect our business and operating results. Our results may be affected by the outcome of pending and future litigation. Unfavorable rulings in our legal proceedings may have a negative impact on us that may be greater or smaller depending on the nature of the rulings. In addition, we are currently, and from time to time in the future may be, subject to various other claims, investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings (whether civil or criminal) or lawsuits by governmental agencies or private parties, as further described in the immediately preceding risk factor. If the results of these investigations, proceedings or suits are unfavorable to us or if we are unable to successfully defend against third-party lawsuits, we may be required to pay monetary damages or may be subject to fines, penalties, injunctions or other censure that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we adequately address the issues raised by an investigation or proceeding or successfully defend a third-party lawsuit or counterclaim, we may have to devote significant financial and management resources to address these issues, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.21In December 2019, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and enhance the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc.In December 2019, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business.In connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC in 2010, we became subject, through July 2020, to a court-imposed final judgment (the “Final Judgment”) that places certain restrictions and obligations on us in order to address the issues the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) raised in its antitrust review of the merger. Pursuant to the Final Judgment, we agreed to abide by certain behavioral remedies and to provide periodic reports to the DOJ about our compliance with the Final Judgment. The Final Judgment was due to expire in July 2020; in December 2019, we reached an agreement with the DOJ to enhance certain aspects of the Final Judgment and extend its duration through the end of 2025 (the “Amended Final Judgment”). The Final Judgment was due to expire in July 2020; in December 2019, we reached an agreement with the DOJ to clarify certain aspects of the Final Judgment and extend its duration through the end of 2025 (the “Amended Final Judgment”). Under the Amended Final Judgment (i) we may not threaten to condition (or actually condition) the provision of Live Nation concerts on a venue choosing Ticketmaster, (ii) we may not retaliate (i.e., withhold any Live Nation concerts) in response to a venue choosing a ticketing services provider other than Ticketmaster, and (iii) Ticketmaster may not share with Live Nation promoters certain information about other concerts that Ticketmaster tickets., withhold any Live Nation concerts) in response to a venue choosing a ticketing services provider other than Ticketmaster. In addition, pursuant to the Amended Final Judgment, (i) an independent monitor has been appointed to monitor and report to the DOJ on our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment, and investigate any potential violations thereof, (ii) we appointed an internal antitrust compliance officer and have conducted (and will continue to annually conduct) internal trainings to ensure our employees fully comply with the Amended Final Judgment; (iii) we provided, and will continue to provide, notice to current or potential venue customers of the Amended Final Judgment and its restrictions on our business conduct; (iv) we are required to notify the DOJ of any ticket company acquisitions regardless of whether they would fall within the normal notification rules, and (v) we are subject to an automatic penalty of $1,000,000 for each violation. In addition, pursuant to the Amended Final Judgment, (i) an independent monitor has been appointed to monitor and report to the DOJ on our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment, and investigate any potential violations thereof, (ii) we appointed an internal antitrust compliance officer and have conducted (and will continue to annually conduct) internal trainings to ensure our employees fully comply with the Amended Final Judgment; (iii) we provided, and will continue to provide, notice to current or potential venue customers of the Amended Final Judgment and its restrictions on our business conduct; and (iv) we are subject to an automatic penalty of $1,000,000 for each violation. We agreed to pay costs and fees for the independent monitor and the DOJ’s past investigation and enforcement.During the duration of the Amended Final Judgment, we are restricted from engaging in certain business activities that, absent the Final Judgment, would be lawful for us to undertake. Our inability to undertake these business strategies could disadvantage us when we compete against firms that are not restricted by any such order. In addition, our business will be under continued and enhanced scrutiny by the DOJ, including by the independent monitor. Our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment therefore creates certain unquantifiable business risks for us.In connection with the merger we also entered into a consent agreement with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition (the “Canadian Consent Agreement”), which had the effect of imposing essentially the same terms as the Final Judgment on our business in Canada. The various terms of the Canadian Consent Agreement expired on or before July 2020.General Risks Relating to our Business and OperationsWe may be adversely affected by the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks or disease epidemics, including any resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.General Risks Relating to our Business and OperationsWe may be adversely affected by the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks or disease epidemics. The occurrence and threat of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, intentional or unintentional mass-casualty incidents, public health concerns such as contagious disease outbreaks, natural disasters or similar events, may deter artists from touring and/or substantially decrease the use of and demand for our services and the attendance at live music events, which may decrease our revenue or expose us to substantial liability. The occurrence and threat of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, intentional or unintentional mass-casualty incidents, public health concerns such as contagious disease outbreaks, natural disasters or similar events, may deter artists from touring and/or substantially decrease the use of and demand for our services and the attendance at live music events, which may decrease our revenue or expose us to substantial liability. The terrorism and security incidents in the past, military actions in foreign locations, periodic elevated terrorism alerts and fears from publicized contagious disease outbreaks have raised numerous challenging operating factors, including public concerns regarding air travel, military actions and additional national or local catastrophic incidents, causing a nationwide disruption of commercial and leisure activities. In the event of actual or threatened terrorism events, some artists may refuse to travel or book tours, which could adversely affect our business. Attendance at events may decline due to fears over terrorism and contagious disease outbreaks, which could adversely impact our operating results. There have been terrorist attacks at events that we have promoted or with which we have otherwise been involved, which have resulted in lawsuits questioning, among other things, the adequacy of the security precautions at these events. While we are constantly evaluating the security precautions for our events in an effort to ensure the safety of the public, no security measures can guarantee safety and there can be no assurances that we won’t face liabilities, which could be substantial and materially impact our operating results, in connection with such terrorist attacks at our events. In addition, we hold a large number of events at third-party venues that we do not own or operate. While we do not have direct control over the security at such venues, there can be no guarantees that victims of a terrorism or casualty event at such venues will not seek to impose, or ultimately be successful in imposing, liability on us.22The global COVID-19 pandemic had a material negative impact on our business and operating results. During the height of the pandemic, we ceased all Live Nation tours and closed our venues to support global efforts at social distancing and mitigating the spread of the virus, and to comply with restrictions put in place by various governmental entities. While our operations have largely returned to normal, any resurgence of the pandemic, or outbreaks causing localized endemics in markets where we have significant operations, would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Each of our segments depends on live music and sporting events in order to generate most of its revenue. There can be no assurances that new outbreaks of COVID-19 or other epidemics will not again cause operations in impacted markets to close and/or revert to restrictions on activities experienced during the height of the pandemic for an unknown duration of time.While we have health and safety programs designed to mitigate the risks that are inherent in the staging of concerts and other events, as well as those associated with extraordinary occurrences or actions that may take place at our events, there can be no assurances that these programs will be sufficient to fully cover every possibility. While we have health and safety programs designed to mitigate the risks that are inherent in the staging of concerts and other events, as well as those associated with extraordinary occurrences or actions that may take place at our events, there can be no assurances that these programs will be sufficient to fully cover every possibility. Despite our best efforts, some occurrences or actions are difficult to foresee and adequately plan for, which could lead to fan, vendor and/or employee harm resulting in fines, penalties, legal costs and reputational risk that could materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.Exchange rates may cause fluctuations in our results of operations that are not related to our operations. Because we own assets overseas and derive revenue from our international operations, we may incur currency translation losses or gains due to changes in the values of foreign currencies relative to the United States Dollar. We cannot predict the effect of exchange rate fluctuations upon future operating results. For the year ended December 31, 2023, our international operations accounted for approximately 37% of our revenue. We cannot predict the future relationship between the United States Dollar and the currencies used by our international businesses, principally the British Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso. We experienced foreign exchange rate operating income of $29.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and foreign exchange operating losses of $39.8 million and $9.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, which impacted our operating income (loss).8 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2019, respectively, which impacted our operating income (loss). See Item 7A.—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.We may enter into future acquisitions and take certain actions in connection with such transactions, including actions taken to comply with antitrust, competition and other regulations, that could affect our business and results of operations; if we are unsuccessful in our future acquisition endeavors, our business could be adversely impacted. We may enter into future acquisitions and take certain actions in connection with such transactions, including actions taken to comply with antitrust, competition and other regulations, that could affect our business and results of operations; if we are unsuccessful in our future acquisition endeavors, our business could be adversely impacted. Our future growth rate depends in part on our selective acquisition of additional businesses. A portion of our growth has been attributable to acquisitions. We may be unable to identify other suitable targets for further acquisition or make further acquisitions at favorable prices. If we identify a suitable acquisition candidate, our ability to successfully complete the acquisition would depend on a variety of factors, and may include our ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms and requisite government approvals. In addition, the credit agreement for our senior secured credit facility restricts our ability to make certain acquisitions. In connection with future acquisitions, we could take certain actions that could adversely affect our business, including:•using a significant portion of our available cash; •issuing equity securities, which would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership; •incurring substantial debt; •incurring or assuming contingent liabilities, known or unknown; •incurring amortization expenses related to intangibles; and •incurring large accounting write-offs or impairments. In connection with future acquisitions, we could take certain actions that could adversely affect our business, including:•using a significant portion of our available cash; •issuing equity securities, which would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership; 26Table of Contents•incurring substantial debt; •incurring or assuming contingent liabilities, known or unknown; •incurring amortization expenses related to intangibles; and •incurring large accounting write-offs or impairments. In addition, acquisitions involve inherent risks which, if realized, could adversely affect our business and results of operations, including those associated with: •integrating the operations, financial reporting, technologies and personnel of acquired companies, including establishing and maintaining a system of internal controls appropriate for a public company environment; •managing geographically dispersed operations; •the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; •the inherent risks in entering markets or lines of business in which we have either limited or no direct experience;•the potential loss of key employees, customers and strategic partners of acquired companies; and•the impact of laws and regulations relating to antitrust at the state, federal and international levels, which could significantly affect our ability to complete acquisitions and expand our business.23Our operations are seasonal and our results of operations vary from quarter to quarter and year over year, so our financial performance in certain financial quarters or years may not be indicative of, or comparable to, our financial performance in subsequent financial quarters or years. We believe our financial results and cash needs will vary greatly from quarter to quarter and year to year depending on, among other things, the timing of tours, tour cancellations, event ticket on-sales, capital expenditures, seasonal and other fluctuations in our operating results, the timing of guaranteed payments and receipt of ticket sales and fees, financing activities, acquisitions and investments and receivables management. Because our results may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year, our financial results for one quarter or year cannot necessarily be compared to another quarter or year and may not be indicative of our future financial performance in subsequent quarters or years. Typically, we experience our lowest financial performance in the first and fourth quarters of the calendar year as our outdoor venues are primarily used, and our festivals primarily occur, during May through October. In addition, the timing of tours of top grossing acts can impact comparability of quarterly results year over year and potentially annual results. The timing of event on-sales by our ticketing clients can also impact this comparability. In addition, the seasonality of our businesses could create cash flow management risks if we do not adequately anticipate and plan for periods of decreased activity, which could negatively impact our ability to execute on our strategy, which in turn could harm our results of operations.The following table sets forth our operating income (loss) for the last eight fiscal quarters (in thousands):Costs associated with, and our ability to obtain, adequate insurance could adversely affect our profitability and financial condition.The following table sets forth our operating income (loss) for the last eight fiscal quarters (in thousands):27Table of ContentsCosts associated with, and our ability to obtain, adequate insurance could adversely affect our profitability and financial condition. We currently secure insurance programs to address our various risks with terms, conditions and costs that management deems appropriate for our business. We currently secure insurance programs to address our various risks with terms, conditions and costs that are appropriate for our business. However, heightened concerns and challenges regarding property, casualty, business interruption, contingency and other insurance coverage have resulted from terrorist and other security incidents along with varying weather-related conditions, pandemics and other incidents. Any such events that are of a massive scale causing significant losses to insurance providers could negatively impact the insurance marketplace, and as a result, we may experience increased difficulty obtaining sufficiently high policy limits of coverage at a cost we believe to be reasonable, including coverage for acts of terrorism, cyber attacks, weather-related damage and disruptions and other perils associated with our operations, including communicable diseases and/or pandemics, artist illnesses and/or inability to perform, and other general casualty matters. We have experienced a significant increase in our cost to obtain appropriate insurance over the past several years, though it is difficult to gauge the portion of this increase that is due to conditions in the insurance marketplace generally versus that attributable to our claims history for the mass casualty, cybersecurity, the global COVID-19 pandemic, event cancellations, and other incidents that we have faced. We have a material investment in property and equipment at each of our venues, which are generally located near major cities and which hold events typically attended by a large number of fans. We also have a significant investment in technology, including our ticketing systems. At December 31, 2023, we had property and equipment with a net book value of $2.1 billion. We cannot guarantee that future increases in insurance costs and difficulties obtaining high policy limits will not adversely impact our profitability, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.We cannot provide assurance that our insurance policy coverage limits, including insurance coverage for property, casualty, artists, business interruption losses, cyber attacks and acts of terrorism, would be adequate under the circumstances should one or multiple events occur at or near any of our business locations, or that our insurers would have adequate financial resources to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages. We cannot guarantee that adequate coverage limits will be available, offered at a reasonable cost, or offered by insurers with sufficient financial soundness. The occurrence of such an incident or incidents affecting any one or more of our business facilities could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and future results of operations if asset damage and/or company liability were to exceed insurance coverage limits or if an insurer were unable to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages. 24We depend upon unionized labor for the provision of some of our services and any work stoppages or labor disturbances could disrupt our business; potential union pension obligations could cause us to incur unplanned liabilities. The stagehands at some of our venues and other employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. Our union agreements typically have a term of three years and thus regularly expire and require negotiation in the ordinary course of our business. Upon the expiration of any of our collective bargaining agreements, however, we may be unable to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements on terms favorable to us, and our business operations may be interrupted as a result of labor disputes or difficulties and delays in the process of renegotiating our collective bargaining agreements. In addition, our business operations at one or more of our facilities may also be interrupted as a result of labor disputes by outside unions attempting to unionize a venue even though we do not have unionized labor at that venue currently. A work stoppage at one or more of our owned or operated venues or at our promoted events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage would have on our business. We participate in, and make recurrent contributions to, various multiemployer pension plans that cover many of our current and former union employees. Our required recurrent contributions to these plans could unexpectedly increase during the term of a collective bargaining agreement due to ERISA laws that require additional contributions to be made when a pension fund enters into critical status, which may occur for reasons that are beyond our control. In addition, we may be required by law to fulfill our pension withdrawal liability with respect to any multiemployer pension plans from which we may withdraw or partially withdraw. Our potential withdrawal liability will increase if a multiemployer pension plan in which we participate has significant underfunded liabilities. Any unplanned or greater than expected multiemployer pension liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.Risks Relating to Our Leverage We have a large amount of debt and lease obligations that could restrict our operations and impair our financial condition. The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness impose restrictions on us that limit the discretion of management in operating our business and that, in turn, could impair our ability to meet our obligations under our debt.The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness include restrictive covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to:•incur additional debt; •pay dividends and make distributions; •make certain investments; •repurchase our stock and prepay certain indebtedness; •create liens; •enter into transactions with affiliates; •modify the nature of our business; •enter into sale-leaseback transactions;•transfer and sell material assets; and•merge or consolidate.In addition, our senior secured credit facility includes other restrictions, including requirements to maintain certain financial ratios. Our failure to comply with the terms and covenants of our indebtedness could lead to a default under the terms of the governing documents, which would entitle the lenders to accelerate the indebtedness and declare all amounts owed due and payable.As of December 31, 2023, our total indebtedness, excluding unamortized debt discounts and debt issuance costs of $49.7 million, was $6.5 million, was $5. 6 billion.8 billion. Our available borrowing capacity under the revolving portion of our senior secured credit facility at that date was $898.4 million, with outstanding letters of credit of $31.6 million.1 million. We may also incur significant additional indebtedness in the future.Our substantial indebtedness could have adverse consequences, including: •making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations; •increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, regulatory and industry conditions; •limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other purposes; •requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to fund payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for operations and other purposes; •limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; •making us more vulnerable to increases in interest rates; and•placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt.25To service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures, we will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control. Our ability to service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt will also depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. This is, to an extent, subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. We cannot provide assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our debt or to fund our other liquidity needs. If our future cash flow from operations and other capital resources is insufficient to pay our obligations as they mature or to fund our liquidity needs, we may be forced to reduce or delay our business activities and capital expenditures, sell assets, obtain additional equity capital or restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt on or before maturity. In addition, the terms of our existing debt, including our senior secured credit facility, and other future debt may limit our ability to pursue any of these alternatives. These measures might also be unsuccessful or inadequate in permitting us to meet scheduled debt service or lease obligations. We may be unable to restructure or refinance our obligations and obtain additional debt or equity financing or sell assets on satisfactory terms or at all. Capital markets have been volatile in the recent past; a downturn could negatively impact our ability to access capital should the need arise. As a result, the inability to meet our debt or lease obligations could cause us to default on those obligations. Any such defaults could materially harm our financial condition and liquidity.See Item 7.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Commitments—Firm Commitments for further discussion.We depend on the cash flows of our subsidiaries in order to satisfy our obligations. We rely on distributions and loans from our subsidiaries to meet our payment requirements under our obligations. If our subsidiaries are unable to pay dividends or otherwise make payments to us, we may not be able to make debt service payments on our obligations. We conduct substantially all of our operations through our subsidiaries. Our operating cash flows and consequently our ability to service our debt is therefore principally dependent upon our subsidiaries’ earnings and their distributions of those earnings to us and may also be dependent upon loans or other payments of funds to us by those subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate legal entities and may have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amount due pursuant to our obligations or to make any funds available for that purpose. Our foreign subsidiaries generate a portion of our operating cash flows. Although we do not intend to repatriate these funds from our foreign subsidiaries in order to satisfy payment requirements in the United States, we would be required to accrue and pay United States state income taxes as well as any applicable foreign withholding or transaction taxes on future repatriations. These taxes could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the ability of our subsidiaries to provide funds to us may be subject to restrictions under our senior secured credit facility and may be subject to the terms of such subsidiaries’ future indebtedness, as well as the availability of sufficient surplus funds under applicable law.Conversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders and may affect our per share results and the trading price of our common stock.25Table of ContentsConversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders and may affect our per share results and the trading price of our common stock. The issuance of shares of our common stock upon conversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders. Issuances of stock on conversion may also affect our per share results of operations. Any sales in the public market of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock.ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS None. 26ITEM 1C. ITEM 1. CYBERSECURITYOur Board of Directors (the “Board”) is responsible for overseeing our risk management program and cybersecurity is a critical element of this program. The Information Security and Privacy team leads cybersecurity risk management for our business. Effective Cyber Risk Management is foundational to our Information Security and Privacy program and is based on recognized frameworks established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Our Information Security and Privacy Risk Management program includes processes and controls for the business to ensure that cybersecurity risks are identified and responded to promptly. These range from formal processes that are triggered in certain circumstances, to detective controls and technology that we use to identify and manage risks. Information Security and Privacy’s Risk Management process is consistent with our Enterprise Risk Management Policy, which describes how we manage risks generally. The Information Security and Privacy team also engages with external consultants to ensure best practices in our Cyber Risk Management.Cybersecurity Risk Management and StrategyOur cybersecurity risk management and strategy focus on several areas: •Risk Identification and Reporting: We have implemented a comprehensive, cross-functional approach to assessing, identifying, and managing material cybersecurity threats and incidents. The program includes controls and procedures to properly identify, classify, and escalate certain cybersecurity incidents to provide management visibility and obtain an assessment from management as to the public disclosure and reporting of material incidents in a timely manner. The Information Security and Privacy team’s responsibilities include:◦Conducting privacy impact assessments;◦Rating cyber risk severity, coordinating remediation, and monitoring cyber risks within our enterprise risk register;◦Cyber threat intelligence functions, including monitoring cybercrime and geopolitical developments;◦Supporting mergers and acquisitions activities, including integration of newly acquired businesses;◦Performing security architecture reviews, both of existing enterprise systems and those of newly acquired organizations;◦Monitoring and ensuring Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance where required across the enterprise; and◦Conduct and supervision of penetration testing.•Technical Safeguards: We have implemented technical safeguards that are designed to protect our information systems from cybersecurity threats, including firewalls, intrusion prevention and detection systems, anti-malware functionality, and access controls, which are evaluated and improved through vulnerability assessments and cybersecurity threat intelligence, as well as outside audits and certifications. The Information Security and Privacy team also manages and carries out logging, and vulnerability and application scanning, to support the identification of cyber risks.•Incident Response and Recovery Planning: We maintain comprehensive incident response, business continuity, and disaster recovery plans designed to guide our response to cybersecurity incidents. We also conduct regular tabletop exercises to test these plans and ensure personnel are familiar with their roles in a response scenario.•Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM): We maintain a comprehensive, risk-based approach to identifying and overseeing material cybersecurity threats presented by third parties, including vendors, service providers, and other external users of our systems, as well as the systems of third parties that could adversely impact our business in the event of a material cybersecurity incident affecting those third-party systems, including any outside auditors or consultants who advise on our cybersecurity systems.•Education and Awareness: We provide regular, mandatory training for all levels of employees regarding cybersecurity threats to equip our employees with effective tools to address cybersecurity threats, and to communicate our evolving information security policies, standards, processes, and practices.GovernanceThe Board, in coordination with our Global Data Governance Board (GDGB) and the Audit Committee, oversees our risk management program, including the management of cybersecurity threats. The GDGB receives regular presentations and reports on developments in the cybersecurity space, including risk management practices, recent developments, evolving standards, vulnerability assessments, third-party and independent reviews, the threat environment, technological trends, and information security.27The Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer (CISPO) is the risk manager overseeing the organization’s information security risk management function. As the Risk Manager, the CISPO is responsible for the administration of the information security risk management program, policy, and procedures. This includes ensuring that risks are properly identified, assessed, managed, and reported as prescribed by the organization. The Risk Manager also has the responsibility of promoting an effective risk management culture through regular training across the organization. The CISPO has direct communication with senior executives regarding cybersecurity risks and works collaboratively with our leadership to respond to and manage the response to cybersecurity incidents. The CISPO has nearly 20 years of legal and data protection experience with a focus on Information Security, Privacy, and Abuse Prevention.Material Effects of Cybersecurity IncidentsRisks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have not materially affected us, including its business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Further information regarding cybersecurity risks can be found in Item 1A. Risk Factors - Risks Relating to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Intellectual Property..
Recently Filed
Click on a ticker to see risk factors
Ticker * | File Date |
---|---|
CTLT | 1 day, 2 hours ago |
VYST | 1 day, 3 hours ago |
GCBC | 1 day, 3 hours ago |
PANW | 1 day, 4 hours ago |
TWIN | 1 day, 4 hours ago |
CBKM | 1 day, 6 hours ago |
FLWS | 1 day, 10 hours ago |
GDLC | 1 day, 11 hours ago |
LTCN | 1 day, 11 hours ago |
BCHG | 1 day, 11 hours ago |
BRC | 1 day, 13 hours ago |
STRT | 2 days, 2 hours ago |
CSCO | 2 days, 3 hours ago |
BOWL | 2 days, 4 hours ago |
PDEX | 2 days, 4 hours ago |
WMPN | 2 days, 6 hours ago |
WRPT | 2 days, 9 hours ago |
SASI | 3 days, 1 hour ago |
INTU | 3 days, 1 hour ago |
SGMA | 4 days, 4 hours ago |
PROV | 1 week, 1 day ago |
GBLX | 1 week, 1 day ago |
FLXS | 1 week, 1 day ago |
AGTX | 1 week, 1 day ago |
APLD | 1 week, 1 day ago |
OSIS | 1 week, 2 days ago |
NSSC | 1 week, 2 days ago |
SKLZ | 1 week, 2 days ago |
GEG | 1 week, 2 days ago |
CLSH | 1 week, 2 days ago |
CMXC | 1 week, 2 days ago |
LRCX | 1 week, 2 days ago |
DTII | 1 week, 2 days ago |
MBUU | 1 week, 2 days ago |
LAAB | 1 week, 2 days ago |
AFRM | 1 week, 3 days ago |
BMRA | 1 week, 3 days ago |
PSEC | 1 week, 3 days ago |
PAHC | 1 week, 3 days ago |
WEWA | 1 week, 3 days ago |
WRAP | 1 week, 3 days ago |
LFVN | 1 week, 3 days ago |
RGS | 1 week, 3 days ago |
INTA | 1 week, 5 days ago |
LNDC | 1 week, 5 days ago |
JKHY | 1 week, 5 days ago |
MCAG | 2 weeks, 1 day ago |
SYNA | 2 weeks, 1 day ago |
KE | 2 weeks, 1 day ago |
BILL | 2 weeks, 1 day ago |