Live Nation Entertainment 10-K 2015-12-31

10-K 1 lyv-20151231x10k.htm 10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015,

or

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-32601

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

9348 Civic Center Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(310) 867-7000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. x Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ¨ Yes x No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. x Yes ¨ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ¨ Yes x No

On June 30, 2015, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the Common Stock beneficially held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $4.0 billion. (For purposes hereof, directors, executive officers and 10% or greater stockholders have been deemed affiliates).

On February 19, 2016, there were 202,459,646 outstanding shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share, including 753,646 shares of unvested restricted stock awards and excluding 408,024 shares held in treasury.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of our Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end, are incorporated by reference into Part III.

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

INDEX TO FORM 10-K

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

PART I

“Live Nation” (which may be referred to as the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) means Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries, or one of our segments or subsidiaries, as the context requires.

Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this Form 10-K (or otherwise made by us or on our behalf from time to time in other reports, filings with the SEC, news releases, conferences, internet postings or otherwise) that are not statements of historical fact constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, notwithstanding that such statements are not specifically identified. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our financial position, business strategy, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential operating performance improvements, the effects of competition, the effects of future legislation or regulations and plans and objectives of our management for future operations. We have based our forward-looking statements on our beliefs and assumptions considering the information available to us at the time the statements are made. Use of the words “may,” “should,” “continue,” “plan,” “potential,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “outlook,” “could,” “target,” “project,” “seek,” “predict,” or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those set forth under 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 one or more of these 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. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

Our Company

We believe that we are the largest live entertainment company in the world, connecting nearly 530 million fans across all of our platforms in approximately 37 countries in 2015.

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 more than 63 million fans to over 25,500 events for nearly 3,300 artists in 2015. Live Nation owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest in 167 venues, including House of Blues ® music venues and prestigious locations such as The Fillmore in San Francisco, the Hollywood Palladium, the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and 3Arena in Ireland.

We 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 other websites, numerous retail outlets and call centers and sold over 465 million tickets in 2015 through our systems. Ticketmaster serves more than 12,500 clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters.

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 musical artists and acts across all music genres. As of December 31, 2015, we had over 100 managers providing services to more than 350 artists.

We believe our global footprint is 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.

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.”

Our Strategy

Our strategy is to leverage our leadership position in live entertainment and our relationships with fans, venues, artists and advertisers to sell more tickets and grow our revenue, earnings and cash flow. We pay artists, venues and teams to secure content and tickets; we invest in technology to build innovative products which advance our ticketing, advertising and mobile platforms; and we are paid by sponsors and advertisers that want to connect their brands with our passionate fan base.

Our core businesses surrounding the promotion of live events include ticketing, sponsorship and advertising, and artist management. 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 additional global markets and optimizing our cost structure. Our strategy is to grow and innovate through the initiatives listed below.

Our Assets

We believe we have a unique portfolio of assets that is unmatched in the live entertainment industry.

sponsors include some of the most well-recognized national and global brands including Citi, American Express, Carlsberg, O2, Anheuser-Busch, Hilton and Pepsi (each of these brands is a registered trademark of the sponsor).

Our History

We were incorporated in Delaware on August 2, 2005 in preparation for the contribution and transfer by Clear Channel of substantially all of its entertainment assets and liabilities to us. We completed the Separation on December 21, 2005, and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange trading under the symbol “LYV.”

On January 25, 2010, we merged with Ticketmaster and it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Live Nation. Effective with the merger, Live Nation, Inc. changed its name to Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

Our Industry

We operate in five main industries within the live entertainment business; live music events, venue operations, ticketing services, artist management and 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 contract with artists to represent them for defined periods. Booking agents then contact promoters, who will contract with them or with artists, to arrange events. Booking agents generally receive fixed or percentage fees from artists for their services. 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.

For music tours, two to nine months typically elapse between initially booking artists and the first performances. Promoters, in conjunction with artists, managers and booking agents, set ticket prices and advertise events. 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 or percentages of ticket sales as rental income. In addition, venue operators provide services such as concessions, parking, security, ushering and ticket-taking, and receive some or all of the revenue from concessions, merchandise, venue sponsorships, parking and premium seating.

Ticketing services include the sale of tickets primarily through online and mobile channels but also 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 does not set ticket prices or seating charts for events as this information is given to them by the venue and/or promoter in charge of the event. The ticketing company generally gets paid a fixed fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the total ticket service charges. 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. 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.

Ticketing resale services refers to the sale of tickets by a holder who originally purchased the tickets from a venue, promoter or other entity, or a ticketing services provider selling on behalf of a venue, promoter or other entity. Resale tickets are also referred to as secondary tickets. Generally, the ticket reseller is paid a service charge when the ticket is resold and the negotiated ticket value is paid to the holder.

Artist managers primarily provide services to music recording 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. Artist services creates and sells merchandise for music artists at live performances, to retailers and directly to consumers via the internet, and also connects artists to corporate clients for events, and generally are paid a percentage of the artist’s earnings.

The sponsorship and advertising industry within the live entertainment business involves the sale of international, national, regional and local advertising campaigns and promotional programs to a variety of companies to advertise or promote their brand or product. The advertising campaigns typically include venue naming rights, on-site venue signage, online advertisements and exclusive partner rights in various categories such as beverage, hotel and telecommunications. These

promotional programs may include event pre-sales and on-site product activation. In addition, online channels offering live streaming and music-related original content provide opportunities for advertisers to connect their brands directly with fans and artists.

Our Business

Our reportable segments are Concerts, Ticketing, Artist Nation 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 and the creation of associated content. During 2015, our Concerts business generated approximately $5.0 billion, or 68.5%, of our total revenue. We promoted over 25,500 live music events in 2015, including artists such as U2, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, One Direction, Maroon 5 and Luke Bryan and through festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Rock Werchter, Austin City Limits, Lollapolooza and Bonnaroo. While our Concerts segment operates year-round, we generally 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.

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 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 service 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, venue sponsorships 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 no significant 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, festival sponsorships and ticket rebates or 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 service 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 our clients and retains a fee, or “service charge”, for these services. 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 websites, mobile apps, ticket outlets and telephone call centers. During the year ended December 31, 2015, we sold 69%, 21%, 7% and 3% of primary tickets through these channels, respectively. Our Ticketing segment also manages our online activities including enhancements to our websites and bundled product offerings. During 2015, our Ticketing business generated approximately $1.6 billion, or 22.6%, of our total revenue, which excludes the face value of tickets sold. Through all of our ticketing services, we sold 160 million tickets in 2015 on which we were paid fees for our services. In addition, approximately 297 million tickets in total were sold using our Ticketmaster systems, through season seat packages and our venue clients’ box offices, for which we do 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.

We 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 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. Agreements with venue clients generally grant us the right 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 generally grant us the right to sell tickets for all 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. Where we have exclusive contracts, clients may not utilize, authorize or promote the services of

third-party ticketing companies or technologies while under contract with us. While we generally have the right to sell a substantial portion of our clients’ tickets, venue and promoter clients often sell and distribute group sales and season tickets in-house. In addition, under many written agreements between promoters and our clients, the client often allocates certain tickets for artist, promoter, agent and venue use and does not make those tickets available for sale by us. We also generally allow clients to make a certain limited number of tickets available for sale through fan clubs, or other similar arrangements, from which we generally derive no revenue unless selected by the club to facilitate the sales. As a result, we do not sell all of our clients’ tickets and the amount of tickets that we sell varies from client to client and from event to event, and varies as to any single client from year to year.

We currently offer ticket resale services, sometimes referred to as secondary ticketing, primarily through our integrated inventory platform, league/team platforms and other platforms internationally. We enter into arrangements with ticket resellers to post their ticket inventory for sale at a purchase price equal to a ticket resale price, determined by the ticket reseller, plus a pre-determined service fee to the buyer. We remit the ticket resale price to the ticket resellers less a predetermined service fee to the seller. In addition to enabling premium primary ticket sales, certain services allow consumers to resell and purchase tickets online or via mobile devices for certain events for our venue clients who elect to participate in the service. Sellers and buyers each pay a fee that has been negotiated with the relevant client, a portion of which may be shared with the client.

Artist Nation. Our Artist Nation segment primarily provides management services to music artists and other clients in exchange for a commission on the earnings of these artists. Our Artist Nation segment also creates and sells merchandise for music artists at live performances, to retailers and directly to consumers via the internet. During 2015, our Artist Nation business generated approximately $434 million, or 6.0%, of our total revenue. Revenue earned from our Artist Nation segment is impacted to a large degree by the touring schedules of the artists we represent and generally we experience higher revenue during the second and third quarters as the period from May through October tends to be a popular time for touring events.

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 concerts, venue, artist relationship and ticketing assets, including advertising on our websites. We drive increased advertising scale to further monetize our concerts platform through rich media offerings including advertising associated with live streaming and music-related original content. We work with our corporate clients to help create marketing programs that drive 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 experienced exclusively by the clients’ consumers. These custom events can involve live music events with talent and media, using both online and traditional outlets. During 2015, our Sponsorship & Advertising business generated approximately $334 million, or 4.6%, of our total revenue. We typically experience higher revenue in the second and third quarters as a large portion of sponsorships are typically associated with our outdoor venues and festivals which are primarily used in or occur from May through October.

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 venue naming rights sponsorship programs. We believe national and international sponsorships allow us to maximize our network of venues and to arrange multi-venue branding opportunities for advertisers. Our local and venue-focused sponsorships include venue signage, promotional programs, on-site activation, hospitality and tickets, and are derived from a variety of companies across various industry categories.

Live Nation Venue Details

In the live entertainment industry, venue types generally consist of:

because theaters can be used year-round, unlike most amphitheaters, they can generate annual profits similar to those of an amphitheater. 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.

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 in as of December 31, 2015:

Competition

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:

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 financial, marketing, support, technical and other resources.

In the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from both 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 industry are Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, Another Planet Entertainment, Jam Productions, Ltd., Bowery Presents, I.M.P. and SFX Entertainment, 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 Live, Concerts West, Goldenvoice and The Messina 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 SMG, AEG, The Madison Square Garden Company and The Nederlander Organization, in addition to numerous smaller regional companies in North America and Europe. Some of our competitors in venue management have 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. As online and mobile ticket purchases increase, related ticketing costs generally decrease, which 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 venues and to reach fans for events. Resale, or secondary, ticketing services and the consolidation of the resale industry, which historically had been more fragmented and consisted of a significant number of local resellers with limited inventory selling through traditional storefronts, has 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 despite prohibition on such actions. The internet allows fans and other ticket resellers to reach a vastly larger audience through the aggregation of inventory on online resale websites and marketplaces, and provides consumers with more convenient access to tickets for a larger number and greater variety of events. 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 main competitors include primary ticketing companies such as Tickets.com, AXS, Paciolan, Inc. and CTS Eventim AG, online and event companies such as Eventbrite, eTix and Ticketfly and secondary ticketing companies such as StubHub.

In the artist management business, we compete with other artist managers both at larger talent representation companies, such as Red Light Management, as well as smaller artist management companies and individuals. In the artist services business, we compete with companies typically only involved in one or a few of the services we provide. Some of these competitors include Bravado, Artist Arena and Global Merchandising Services.

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 and strong 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:

We believe that we are in material compliance with these laws. The regulations relating to our food service 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.

We 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 both 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.

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.

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.

From time to time, governmental bodies have proposed legislation that could have an effect on 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. More recently, some jurisdictions have 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.

Intellectual Property

We create, own and distribute intellectual property worldwide. It is our practice to protect our trademarks, brands, copyrights, patents and other original and acquired works, ancillary goods and services. Our trademarks include, among others, the marks “Live Nation,” “Ticketmaster,” “House of Blues” and “The Fillmore,” and their corresponding logos. We have registered many of our trademarks in numerous foreign countries. We believe that our trademarks and other proprietary rights have significant value and are important to our brand-building efforts and the marketing of our services. We cannot predict, however, whether steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights will be adequate to prevent misappropriation of these rights.

Employees

As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately 7,700 full-time employees, including 5,000 in North America and 2,700 international employees, of which approximately 7,500 were employed in our operations departments and approximately 200 were employed in our corporate group.

Our staffing needs vary significantly throughout the year. Therefore, we also employ part-time and/or seasonal employees, primarily for our live music venues and festivals. As of December 31, 2015, we employed approximately 9,000 seasonal and/or part-time employees and during peak seasonal periods, particularly in the summer months, we employed as many as 19,300 seasonal employees in 2015. 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 course of our business. We believe that we enjoy good relations with our employees and other unionized labor involved in our events, and there have been no 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 results of operations.

Executive Officers

Set forth below are the names, ages and current positions of our executive officers and other significant employees as of February 19, 2016.

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.

Ron Bension is President of our HOB Entertainment division and has served in this capacity since November 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Bension served as Chief Executive Officer for TicketsNow, a division of Ticketmaster, since joining us in January 2010.

Joe Berchtold is our Chief Operating Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Berchtold was at Technicolor, where he was most recently President of Technicolor Creative Services, after joining them in 2003.

Mark Campana is Co-President of our North America Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Campana served as President of our Midwest Region in North America Concerts. Mr. Campana has worked for us or our predecessors since 1980.

Brian Capo is our Chief Accounting Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in December 2007.

Arthur Fogel is the Chairman of our Global Music group and President of our Global Touring division and has served in this capacity since 2005. Mr. Fogel has worked for us or our predecessors since 1999.

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 Reid is President of our Europe Concerts division and has served in that capacity since joining us in January 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Reid was the Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music Europe and International Marketing from November 2010 to December 2011.

Alan Ridgeway is President of our International and Emerging Markets division and has served in this capacity since November 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Ridgeway was Chief Executive Officer of our International division from September 2007 to October 2011. Mr. Ridgeway has worked for us or our predecessors since 2002.

Bob Roux is Co-President of our North America Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Roux served as President of our Southwest Region in North America Concerts. 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.

Jared Smith is President of Ticketmaster’s North America division and has served in this capacity since May 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Smith served as Ticketmaster’s Chief Operating Officer from May 2010 to April 2013 and has worked for us or our predecessors since 2003.

Russell Wallach is President of our Sponsorships division and has served in this capacity since July 2006. Mr. Wallach has worked for us or our predecessors since 1996.

Kathy Willard is our Chief Financial Officer and has served in this capacity since September 2007. Ms. Willard has worked for us or our predecessors since 1998.

Mark Yovich is President of Ticketmaster’s International division and has served in this capacity since November 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Yovich served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of our International eCommerce division from January 2010 to October 2011. Mr. Yovich has worked for us or our predecessors since 2000.

Jordan Zachary is our Chief Strategy Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Zachary was most recently a Managing Director of The Raine Group, after joining them in 2009.

David Zedeck is President of Global Talent and Artist Development for our Concerts group and has served in this capacity since joining us in July 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Zedeck was a music agent, most recently spending eight years at Creative Artists Agency.

Available Information

We 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 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.

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 Operations

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 business would be adversely affected. 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. 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.

In addition, our live entertainment business typically books our live music tours two to nine 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, if 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. Similarly, the artist management business is dependent upon the highly personalized relationship between a manager and an artist, and the loss of a manager may also result in a loss of the artist represented by the manager, which 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 musical artists.

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 as well as direct sales of tickets. We also expect that revenue from primary ticketing services, which consist primarily of per ticket convenience charges and per order “order processing” 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, ticketing and artist management 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. 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. 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 serv

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None.

As of December 31, 2015, we own, operate or lease 93 entertainment venues and 130 other facilities, including office leases, throughout North America and 36 entertainment venues and 90 other facilities internationally. We believe our venues and facilities are generally well-maintained and in good operating condition and have adequate capacity to meet our current business needs. We have a lease ending June 30, 2020 for our corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, used primarily by our executive group and certain of our domestic operations management staff.

Our leases are for varying terms ranging from monthly to multi-year. These leases can typically be for terms of 3 to 5 years for our office leases and 10 to 20 years for our venue leases, and many include renewal options. There is no significant concentration of venues under any one lease or subject to negotiation with any one landlord. We believe that an important part of our management activity is to negotiate suitable lease renewals and extensions.

Information regarding our legal proceedings can be found in Part II—Financial Information—Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Commitments and Contingent Liabilities.

PART II—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Our common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LYV” beginning on December 21, 2005. There were 3,984 stockholders of record as of February 19, 2016. This figure does not include an estimate of the indeterminate number of beneficial holders whose shares may be held of record by brokerage firms and clearing agencies. The following table presents the high and low sales prices of our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange during the calendar quarter indicated.

Dividend Policy

Since the Separation and through December 31, 2015, we have not declared or paid any dividends. We presently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the expansion of our business and to make debt repayments as they become due. Therefore, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Moreover, the terms of our senior secured credit facility limit the amount of funds that we will have available to declare and distribute as dividends on our common stock. Payment of future cash dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors in accordance with applicable laws after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, plans for expansion and contractual restrictions with respect to the payment of dividends.

The Selected Financial Data should be read in conjunction with Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations together with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes to the financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business and future financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed under 1A.—Risk Factors and other sections in this Annual Report.

Executive Overview

2015 is Live Nation’s 10th anniversary since becoming a publicly-traded company and the year included many exciting milestones. Our total revenue for the year was $7.2 billion, a record level for the company. All of our segments reported revenue growth for the fifth consecutive year as a result of both our highest level of attendance at our concerts and record ticket sales in our ticketing business. More than ever, we are seeing the unique power of the live concert experience and the importance of technology to enable fans around the world to connect with artists and each other. Our overall revenue in 2015 increased by $378.8 million on a reported basis as compared to last year, or $738.3 million, an 11% increase, without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates. While all our segments contributed to this success, the increase was largely driven

by growth in our Concerts segment due to an increase in the number of events and fans. Ticketing increased as well, with growth in concerts and sporting event ticket sales globally as well as the continued expansion of our resale business. Additionally, Sponsorship & Advertising again delivered strong growth over 2014 due to higher sales for our festivals as well as new partnerships in Australia and Asia. Higher artist management commissions and sports-related revenue in Artist Nation led to an increase in overall revenue for that segment as well. As the leading global live event and ticketing company, we believe that we are well-positioned to provide the best service to artists, teams, fans and venues and therefore drive growth across all our businesses. We believe that by leveraging our leadership position in the entertainment industry to reach fans through the live concert experience, we will sell more tickets and uniquely engage more advertising partners. By advancing innovation in ticketing technology, we will continue to improve the fan experience by offering increased and more diversified choices in an expanded ticketing marketplace. This gives us a compelling opportunity to grow our fan base and our results.

Our Concerts segment was the largest contributor to our overall revenue growth, with an increase of $238.1 million on a reported basis as compared to last year, or $498.7 million, an 11% increase, without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates. The higher revenue was partially due to additional arena shows globally and an overall increase in attendance at arena shows this year. Some of the artists driving this increase included U2, Madonna, Maroon 5 and Ariana Grande. In addition, the ongoing expansion of our festival portfolio in North America drove growth in attendance for festival events with such well-known brands as Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo joining our roster. We continue to see great success in our European festivals such as Rock Werchter and Reading, as well as electronic events including Electric Daisy Carnival and Creamfields. Over 15 million fans attended our amphitheater shows throughout the year which is a record for Live Nation where Kid Rock, Luke Bryan and 5 Seconds of Summer played to sold out audiences over the summer. Our efforts to enhance our amphitheater onsite business got off to a great start in 2015 with our new food and beverage and point of sale partners offering more selections and a faster transaction process. In our international business, we saw growth in our new Asian markets - Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia - while large tours by the popular Korean act Bigbang as well as Fleetwood Mac in Australia grew ticket revenue in our Pan-Asian business. This growth more than offset a decline in stadium activity in both North America and Europe which is a function of the mix of artists touring in the year. Our operating income for the year improved over 2014 largely due to the impact of the goodwill impairment in 2014 which was partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization in 2015. We will continue to look for expansion opportunities, both domestically and internationally, as well as ways to market our events more effectively, in order to continue to expand our fan base and geographic reach and to sell more tickets and onsite products.

Our Ticketing segment revenue for the year increased by $82.3 million on a reported basis as compared to last year, or $156.3 million, a 10% increase, without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates. This increase was largely due to a 4% growth in primary ticket sales globally, driven by increased sales for concert and sporting events. As we continued to improve our platform and provide consumers with a broader range of secure ticketing options, visits to our websites increased by 10% in 2015 with nearly 60% of these visits occurring on mobile devices. Our resale business also grew during the year in North America, Europe and Australia, with gross transaction value, or GTV, improving by 32% on a reported basis year-over-year. Mobile continues to be an area of focus and innovation for us and in 2015, 21% of our total tickets were sold via mobile and tablet devices and our total mobile ticket sales increased by 20% year-over-year. Operating results for the year increased over 2015, largely as a result of strong primary ticket sales as well as our growing resale ticketing business. We will continue to implement new features to drive further expansion of mobile ticket transactions and invest in initiatives aimed at improving the ticket search, purchase and transfer process. As a result, we expect to attract more ticket buyers and enhance the overall fan and venue client experience.

Our Artist Nation segment revenue for the year increased by $44.8 million on a reported basis as compared to last year, or $51.4 million, a 13% increase, without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates driven by higher management commissions and sports-related revenue. Artist Nation’s operating results were flat to 2014 as the impact of the goodwill impairment in 2014 was largely offset by higher investment in new business lines in 2015 as well as higher amortization associated with recent acquisitions. Our Artist Nation segment is focused on managing its existing clients as well as developing new relationships with top artists and extending the various services it provides.

Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment revenue for the year was up $33.4 million on a reported basis as compared to last year, or $51.6 million, a 17% increase, without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates. Higher revenue resulted from new clients, increased festival sponsorships, and expansion of our business in Australia and Asia, all of which also increased our operating income. Our growth has been driven by the expansion of our festival footprint and engaging new sponsor clients with both our existing events and new brands added to our festival family. Operating income for the year improved by 5% on a reported basis which was driven by higher revenue, partially offset by the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates. We believe that our extensive on-site and online reach, global venue distribution network, artist relationships, ticketing operations and live entertainment conte

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Required information is within Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Market Risk.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, changes in equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule listed in the index at Item 15(a)2. These financial statements and schedule are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and schedule based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. at December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) and our report dated February 25, 2016 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Los Angeles, California

February 25, 2016

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

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None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We have established disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that material information relating to our company, including our consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to the officers who certify our financial reports and to other members of senior management and our board of directors.

Based on their evaluation as of December 31, 2015, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) are effective to ensure that (1) the information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and (2) the information we are required to disclose in such reports is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls will prevent all possible errors and fraud. Our disclosure controls and procedures are, however, designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective at that reasonable assurance level.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the 2013 framework in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the COSO criteria). Based on its evaluation, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2015.

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting. The attestation report is included herein.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

We have audited Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

In our opinion, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheets of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, changes in equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015 and our report dated February 25, 2016 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Los Angeles, California

February 25, 2016

On February 23, 2016, the compensation committee of the board of directors of the Company amended and restated the form stock option agreement and the form restricted stock award agreement (the “Form Award Agreements”) under the Amended and Restated Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. 2008 Stock and Annual Incentive Plan (the “Ticketmaster Plan”). The amendments to the Form Award Agreements provide that awards made under the Ticketmaster Plan will be treated the same as awards under the Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. 2005 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended and restated as of March 19, 2015, upon the occurrence of certain events, specifically, that awards under the Ticketmaster Plan will accelerate and vest upon a change of control of the Company, will accelerate and vest and remain exercisable for one year upon the death of the plan participant, and will continue to vest and be exercisable for a period of five years upon the disability or retirement of the plan participant. The foregoing summary is qualified in its entirety by the complete text of the Form Award Agreements, which are attached as Exhibits 10.14 and 10.15 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and incorporated herein by reference.

PART III

Other than the information set forth under Item 1. Business—Executive Officers, the information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement, expected to be filed within 120 days of our fiscal year end.

PART IV

(a)1. Financial Statements.

The following consolidated financial statements are included in Item 8:

(a)2. Financial Statement Schedule.

The following financial statement schedule for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 is filed as part of this report and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements.

Schedule II Valuation and Qualifying Accounts

All other schedules for which provision is made in the applicable accounting regulation of the SEC are not required under the related instructions or are inapplicable, and therefore have been omitted.

(a)3. Exhibits.

The information in the Exhibit Index of the Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated into this Item 15(a)3 by reference.

(c) Separate financial statements of subsidiaries not consolidated and fifty percent or less owned persons.

Under Rule 3-09 of Regulation S-X, we are required to file separate audited financial statements of Venta de Boletos por Computadora S.A. de C.V., for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. We expect to file those financial statements by amendment to our Annual Report on Form10-K/A on or before June 30, 2016.

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

SCHEDULE II

VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

(1) Foreign currency adjustments and acquisitions.

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

SCHEDULE II

VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowance

(1) During 2015, 2014, and 2013, the valuation allowance was adjusted for acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency adjustments.

EXHIBIT INDEX

The Company has not filed long-term debt instruments of its subsidiaries where the total amount under such instruments is less than ten percent of the total assets of the Company and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. However, the Company will furnish a copy of such instruments to the Commission upon request.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, on February 25, 2016.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints, jointly and severally, Michael Rapino and Kathy Willard, and each of them, as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their or his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.