Live Nation Entertainment (LYV 0.83%) is a top concert promotion firm and ticketing organization. It markets itself as the single largest live entertainment company in the world. The company was founded in 2010 following the widely-publicized merger of Live Nation with Ticketmaster.
It was a bumpy road to get regulators to approve the merger after the two companies first reached their agreement in 2009. In the United States, the Justice Department only agreed to approve the merger under certain conditions. Ticketmaster was required to sell its self-ticketing company and license its software to a competing entertainment group. The Justice Department also required Live Nation to submit to a 10-year court order barring it from retaliation against venues that pursued ticket contracts with competitors.
The company has been working on its financials over the last few years following the doldrums of the COVID-19 pandemic when concerts and sporting events came to a screeching halt. At the height of the crisis in 2020, Live Nation's revenue plunged by more than 90%. Its growth has returned since that time, with record demand for live events fueling a strong financial comeback in 2022 and 2023.
In 2023, Live Nation Entertainment facilitated entertainment experiences for more than 765 million fans through its concert and ticketing platforms in 49 countries. Live Nation is also the largest producer of live music concerts. It connected more than 145 million fans to almost 6,800 artists at more than 50,000 events in 2023 alone.
In May 2024, the Justice Department announced that it was suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for anti-competitive practices. Live Nation has come under legal and regulatory scrutiny numerous times since the merger that created the current company was approved. The Department's antitrust lawsuit included allegations that the company has maintained a monopoly in primary ticketing and used coercive practices to get venues to sign multiyear contracts.
The company has also come under general public scrutiny in recent years for claims of price-gouging, which it has vehemently pushed back against. Live Nation maintains that artists, venues, and secondary ticketing platforms are behind these issues. The outcome of a government lawsuit is still pending.
For investors, there's still a lot to like and consider about this stock. Many Wall Street analysts appear to be quite bullish on the business. Its shares rose 40% between January and November 2024. If you're interested in buying shares of Live Nation Entertainment stock, here's what you need to know about how to invest in the stock, whether the company is profitable, whether it pays a dividend, and more.
How to invest
How to buy Live Nation Entertainment
Because Live Nation is a publicly traded company, any investor with a brokerage account can buy shares. You can buy whole or fractional shares of Live Nation, depending on the degree of exposure you want to the stock, or you can invest in a fund that holds shares of the stock, like an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
1. Open your brokerage app
Log into your brokerage account where you handle your investments. If you don't have a brokerage account, you'll need to open one before you can buy shares of Live Nation stock. Opening a brokerage account takes just minutes, and once you have done so, you can deposit money to fund your investment purchases.
2. Search for the stock
Enter the stock ticker LYV into the search bar of your chosen brokerage firm. You can also search for the full name Live Nation Entertainment Inc. to bring up the stock's trading page.
3. Decide how many shares to buy
Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock. The right budget to set for investing in Live Nation stock will be very personal to you, based on your current financial situation and long-term investing goals. You should aim to diversify your portfolio across at least 25 stocks in different industries and sectors so you can experience growth from a range of sources without being too concentrated in a particular company or space.
4. Select order type
Choose between a market order or a limit order. If you place a market order, you will pay whatever price that Live Nation stock is trading at that moment in time. If you set a limit order, you set the top price you're willing to pay for Live Nation stock.
A limit order may remain in place until the transaction is completed, or be in force for a limited period, after which it will expire if shares never hit the threshold you specified. Usually, it's better to select a market order so your transaction executes immediately.
5. Submit your order
If you have confirmed the details in the brokerage account, selected the number of shares you want to buy (or the dollar amount), and confirmed the type of order you want to place, you are ready to purchase shares of Live Nation stock.
Be sure that you have carefully researched the company beforehand. With any stock you buy, you need to understand the industry the company operates in, its business model, products/services, and long-term growth story. If you have taken these steps and feel that Live Nation is the right choice for your portfolio, you are ready to submit your order.
6. Review your purchase
Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected, and adjust your investment strategy accordingly. If you place the order during market hours, you should see Live Nation shares added to your portfolio.
Stock
Should you invest?
Should I invest in Live Nation Entertainment?
Whether or not you should invest in Live Nation Entertainment will depend on your investing style, risk tolerance, and the type of stock that you are looking to add to your portfolio. The company is the leader in the entertainment and concert ticket industry globally, with a dominant footprint both domestically and abroad; Live Nation controls an 80% share of primary ticketing venues in the U.S. alone while accounting for 50% of concert ticket sales worldwide.
The company divides its reportable segments into three areas: concerts, ticketing, and sponsorship/advertising. Live Nation's concert segment includes global promotion of live events in third-party venues, as well as owned-and-operated ones. It also operates and manages music venues, produces music festivals, and provides various services to artists, such as management solutions.
Live Nation's concert business is the primary driver of growth and accounted for 82% of its total revenue in 2023. Revenue in this segment is derived from sources like ticket sales, concessions sales, parking sales, premium seating sales, rental income, ticket rebates, and service charges. The ticketing segment, which made up 13% of revenue in 2023, sells tickets on behalf of clients and keeps a portion of the service charge as fees. Live Nation's ticketing segment facilitates sales for its own events and third-party clients.
The sponsorship and advertising segment features a global sales team that helps businesses connect with customers through Live Nation's various entertainment assets, including concerts and festivals. This segment makes money by providing services such as creating marketing programs to connect brands with fans and artists, as well as developing custom events. The sponsorship and advertising business totaled 5% of Live Nation Entertainment's revenue in 2023.
For the first nine months of 2024, Live Nation reported revenue of $17.5 billion, a 3.3% increase from the 2023 period. Of that total, $14.5 billion was derived from its concerts segment, while $2.1 billion was attributable to the ticketing segment and $914 million to the sponsorship/advertising segment. Notably, concert segment revenues were up 4% from the same nine-month period in 2023, while sponsorship/advertising revenues rose by 9%.
If you want to invest in the potential of the live entertainment industry and its long-term growth runway, Live Nation is arguably one of the top contenders you ought to consider, given the size and scale at which it operates in this highly lucrative market. On the other hand, the seasonality of the industry that Live Nation operates in presents a certain level of risk, as do its ongoing litigation issues. Although these are headwinds that Live Nation could be well poised to overcome, potential investors should weigh these factors alongside their preferred risk appetite to determine whether buying shares is a sound next move.
Profitability
Is Live Nation Entertainment profitable?
Live Nation Entertainment is profitable. In the first nine months of 2024, Live Nation reported net income of $849.2 million. That was compared to the $929.2 million it reported in the same nine-month period in 2023, representing a roughly 9% decline. Over the trailing 12 months, the company has also brought in operating cash flow of approximately $1.3 billion.
Dividends
Does Live Nation Entertainment pay a dividend?
Live Nation Entertainment does not pay a dividend. There haven't been any announcements that management plans to initiate a dividend.
ETFs
ETFs with exposure to Live Nation Entertainment
If you don't want to buy whole shares of Live Nation Entertainment stock, there are other ways to gain exposure to the business without purchasing the stock directly. Buying an ETF is a great way to do this while diversifying your investment capital across multiple other stocks at the same time.
Several ETFs, as well as mutual funds worth mentioning that contain shares of Live Nation, include the SPDR (R) Idx Shares-SPDR Communication Services Select Sector ETF (XLC 0.54%), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY 1.2%), the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX 1.11%), and the Blackrock Funds-Mid-Cap Growth Equity Portfolio (BMGAX 1.73%).
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
Stock splits
Will Live Nation Entertainment stock split?
Live Nation Entertainment stock has never split. Usually, a company splits its stock when shares have become inaccessible for many investors due to successive share price gains. The stock's all-time high is still well below $200 per share, so a stock split seems unlikely any time soon. Management has not mentioned any plans to split the stock either.
Related investing topics
The bottom line on Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment stock is a market leader in the concert, live events, and ticketing spaces. The company has dealt with its fair share of headwinds the last few years, from pandemic-induced shutdowns to regulatory upheaval, but its financials are showing promising recovery, it remains profitable, and core business growth is solid.
While Live Nation might not be the right fit for every portfolio, its global footprint and strengthening financials may be attractive to investors. Growth-oriented investors with the risk appetite to invest in a company that is affected by factors like seasonality and consumer spending patterns may find that even a modest position in Live Nation could pay off in the long run.
FAQ
Investing in Live Nation Entertainment FAQ
Is Live Nation Entertainment a good stock?
Live Nation Entertainment could be a great choice for some investors. The company is the global leader in the live entertainment industry with a portfolio of businesses that do everything from owning and operating concert venues to selling tickets for the world’s top artists and concerts.
Is Live Nation a publicly traded company?
Live Nation is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
How to invest in the entertainment industry?
There are numerous ways you can invest in the entertainment industry. You can invest directly in shares of companies like Live Nation Entertainment or buy shares of the business through a secondary option like an exchange-traded fund.
Who owns the most shares of Live Nation?
Live Nation is owned by both institutional investors and individual investors. Currently, almost 76% of shares are held by institutions.
