S&P Global Rankings Downgrades Reside Nation Outlook Amid DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit: ‘A Important Threat to the Industry’

S&P Global Rankings has downgraded Reside Nation’s outlook to detrimental as the Ticketmaster guardian grapples with a DOJ antitrust action.

The S&P Global subsidiary real now not too prolonged within the past up to this level its Reside Nation outlook, days following the legitimate submitting of the Justice Department’s prolonged-anticipated antitrust criticism. We’ve already covered that bigger than 120-page suit – and Reside Nation’s respond – intimately.

Relating to brass-tacks takeaways, then all over again, the federal authorities is asking to compel Reside Nation to divest Ticketmaster over the combined operation’s alleged market-energy abuses and resulting particular person hurt.

Clearly, only time will present how the problem unfolds – a level readily acknowledged by S&P, which particularly celebrated the action’s “unsure” cease “on the firm and dwell events industry.” Nonetheless, “Reside Nation’s working performance might perchance be hurt by the lawsuit,” consistent with the text.

And it’s for this cause that the credit ranking standing company has shifted from a stable to detrimental outlook for Reside Nation, with the entity’s Reside Nation administration and governance receive adjusted from neutral to moderately detrimental.

“The detrimental outlook reflects our leer that the heightened regulatory scrutiny, monetary costs, and doable disruption of Reside Nation’s aggressive dwelling within the dwell events industry from the antitrust lawsuit might perchance perchance well additionally impair the firm’s creditworthiness and thereby potentially lead to a lower rating,” S&P Global Rankings wrote.

“We imagine Reside Nation advantages from economies of scale and vertical integration within the dwell events industry and that Ticketmaster is a core element of its aggressive advantage,” the company elaborated. “Which capacity of this fact, we leer the lawsuit as a most essential risk to the commercial.”

On the diversified hand, though, the S&P Global unit affirmed “all” its Reside Nation credit ranking ratings, including a BB- issuer rating, a BB rating on senior secured debt, and a B+ rating on unsecured debt, per the breakdown.

Notwithstanding the company’s concerns and the diversified hurdles Reside Nation is dealing with – chief among them a reported Ticketmaster hack and related class action litigation – the broader market seems to be unfazed by the DOJ suit.

On the time of writing, Reside Nation stock (NYSE: LYV) was hovering over $93.50 per portion – down only a exiguous bit on the week, up modestly from 2024’s open up, and 17 percent above its tag in uninteresting Might presumably presumably additionally of 2023.

On the ratings entrance, Roth MKM analyst Eric Handler now not too prolonged within the past maintained a rob rating, with a $120 map tag, for LYV. Contrasting S&P Global Rankings’ review of the Justice Department action, the previous Goldman equity analysis analyst Handler expressed the assumption that a Reside Nation-Ticketmaster split “might perchance perchance enjoy insist in succeeding.”

“The firm intends to vigorously war this lawsuit and believes it has acted based fully mostly on its consent decree. It’s bright to discuss sure treatments, which we cease now not interrogate to be transformative for the commercial,” communicated Handler, indicating additionally that allegations “of monopolistic and anti-aggressive behaviors appear tricky to prove.”