Live Nation, which is facing a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Joe Biden, saw its share price jump on Wednesday (Nov. 6) following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election a day earlier.
Live Nation shares gained 7.1% to $125.99 and rose as high as $127.64, just shy of its all-time high of $127.75 set on Nov. 5, 2021. Investors could see Trump’s re-entrance into the White House as a good sign for Live Nation’s efforts to thwart efforts by the DOJ to break up the company.
In a lawsuit filed in May, the DOJ alleged Live Nation abused its market power to hurt competition through exclusive ticketing contracts and threats and retaliations against venues that choose competing ticketing companies, among other actions the DOJ claims are illegal and violate the consent decree that placed competition-enhancing restrictions on the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
“The change in administration typically brings a change in the climate around anti-trust efforts and could impact a case such as Live Nation,” says Bill Morrison, a partner at Haynes and Boone. “It depends on the who are in those key spots, and then what the priorities are of those offices. We’ve seen big pivots in the past.”
Faced with the prospect of fewer regulations and an administration perceived to be pro-market, U.S. indexes posted big gains on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.6% to a record high. Similarly, the Nasdaq composite rose 3.0% and the S&P 500 improved 2.5% as both reached all-time highs. The NYSE composite gained 1.9% but fell short of its all-time high.
Stocks associated with Trump also fared well, including Tesla, whose CEO, Elon Musk, campaigned heavily for Trump. The company’s shares rose 14.8% while its competitors Rivian and Lucid Group fell 8.3% and 5.3%, respectively. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., owner of the Truth Social app used by Trump, rose 5.9%.
Bitcoin rose 9.4% to an all-time high of $76,012 on Wednesday. Trump has signaled a laissez-faire approach to cryptocurrency and said he would quickly fire Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, a critic who has punished numerous crypto companies and favors tighter regulations. Trump himself is involved with a new cryptocurrency through World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance startup that sells a token called WLFI.
In other music stocks news, music streamer LiveOne jumped 28.5% a day ahead of the company’s earnings release for the quarter ended Sept. 30 while iHeartMedia shares fell 12.6% following news that the radio broadcaster cut dozens of jobs at stations across the country this week.
