Live Nation Entertainment 10-Q 2024-09-30

Filed 2024-11-12. 8 sections, 204K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON

Cover and table of contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549


Form 10-Q


☒QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2024

or

☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-32601


LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


Delaware20-3247759
(State of Incorporation)(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

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:
Title of each classTrading Symbol(s)Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $.01 Par Value Per ShareLYVNew York Stock Exchange

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 every Interactive Data File required to be submitted 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 such files). Yes x No ¨

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

Large Accelerated FilerxAccelerated Filer¨
Non-accelerated Filer¨Smaller Reporting Company☐
Emerging Growth Company☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) 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 November 5, 2024, there were 232,353,685 outstanding shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share, including 1,754,415 shares of unvested restricted stock awards and excluding 408,024 shares held in treasury.

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

INDEX TO FORM 10-Q

Page
PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.Financial Statements2
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2024 (Unaudited) and December 31, 202312
Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 202313
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) (Unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 202314
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity (Unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 202315
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 202319
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited)10
Item 2.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations24
Item 3.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk40
Item 4.Controls and Procedures40
PART II—OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1.Legal Proceedings41
Item 1A.Risk Factors41
Item 2.Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds41
Item 3.Defaults Upon Senior Securities41
Item 5.Other Information41
Item 6.Exhibits42

(1) Prior period financial statements were restated as further discussed in Part I — Financial Information—Item 1.—Financial Statements—Note 9 – Correction of Errors in Previously Reported Consolidated Financial Statements.

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
AOCIAccumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
AOIAdjusted operating income (loss)
CompanyLive Nation Entertainment, Inc. and subsidiaries
FASBFinancial Accounting Standards Board
GAAPUnited States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
GTVGross transaction value
LIBORLondon Inter-Bank Offered Rate
Live NationLive Nation Entertainment, Inc. and subsidiaries
SECUnited States Securities and Exchange Commission
SOFRSecured Overnight Financing Rate
TicketmasterOur ticketing business
VIEVariable interest entities (as defined under GAAP)

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(UNAUDITED)

September 30, 2024December 31, 2023 As Revised
ASSETS(in thousands)
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents$5,489,919$6,231,866
Accounts receivable, less allowance of $87,122 and $82,350, respectively2,693,9982,024,649
Prepaid expenses1,446,3971,147,581
Restricted cash10,8847,090
Other current assets133,956122,163
Total current assets9,775,1549,533,349
Property, plant and equipment, net2,375,8682,101,463
Operating lease assets1,642,2981,606,389
Intangible assets
Definite-lived intangible assets, net1,047,9871,161,621
Indefinite-lived intangible assets, net380,458377,349
Goodwill2,670,0082,691,466
Long-term advances577,229623,154
Other long-term assets1,278,068934,849
Total assets$19,747,070$19,029,640
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Current liabilities
Accounts payable, client accounts$2,081,034$1,866,864
Accounts payable294,765267,493
Accrued expenses3,454,1833,030,812
Deferred revenue3,034,5143,398,028
Current portion of long-term debt, net582,0881,134,386
Current portion of operating lease liabilities167,035158,421
Other current liabilities66,959128,430
Total current liabilities9,680,5789,984,434
Long-term debt, net5,672,8045,459,026
Long-term operating lease liabilities1,766,8971,686,091
Other long-term liabilities673,141488,159
Commitments and contingent liabilities (see Note 6)
Redeemable noncontrolling interests1,023,907859,930
Stockholders' equity
Common stock2,3102,298
Additional paid-in capital2,214,9382,367,918
Accumulated deficit(1,747,806)(2,443,106)
Cost of shares held in treasury(6,865)(6,865)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)(174,611)27,450
Total Live Nation stockholders' equity287,966(52,305)
Noncontrolling interests641,777604,305
Total equity929,743552,000
Total liabilities and equity$19,747,070$19,029,640

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

Three Months Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
2024202320242023
As RevisedAs Revised
(in thousands except share and per share data)
Revenue$7,651,087$8,154,563$17,474,032$16,907,636
Operating expenses:
Direct operating expenses5,780,1886,297,88312,839,73712,589,606
Selling, general and administrative expenses1,005,418974,1502,913,1992,533,066
Depreciation and amortization137,001130,653407,324382,352
Gain on disposal of operating assets(3,968)(1,583)(5,398)(8,092)
Corporate expenses92,92399,802255,216244,295
Operating income639,525653,6581,063,9541,166,409
Interest expense87,96186,215248,622257,425
Loss on extinguishment of debt———18,366
Interest income(36,067)(78,107)(123,749)(174,872)
Equity in losses (earnings) of nonconsolidated affiliates13,987(5,382)8,527(15,047)
Other expense (income), net(12,268)19,251(110,064)24,235
Income before income taxes585,912631,6811,040,6181,056,302
Income tax expense70,22950,269191,412127,070
Net income515,683581,412849,206929,232
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests63,87859,932153,906139,405
Net income attributable to common stockholders of Live Nation$451,805$521,480$695,300$789,827
Basic net income per common share available to common stockholders of Live Nation$1.72$2.01$2.21$2.70
Diluted net income per common share available to common stockholders of Live Nation$1.66$1.93$2.18$2.66
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
Basic230,374,307228,787,263229,923,989228,497,712
Diluted245,319,968244,163,678235,928,752

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

“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. You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations together with the unaudited consolidated financial statements and notes to the financial statements included elsewhere in this quarterly report.

Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this quarterly report (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 below under Part II—Other Information—Item 1A.—Risk Factors, in Part I—Item IA.—Risk Factors of our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as other factors described herein or in our annual, quarterly and other reports we file with the SEC (collectively, “cautionary statements”). Based upon changing conditions, should any risk or uncertainty that has already materialized, worsen in scope, impact or duration, or should one or more of the currently unrealized risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in any forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the applicable cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

Executive Overview

For the third quarter of 2024, the Company’s operating income decreased by 2% and AOI was up 4% versus 2023. Revenues for the third quarter decreased by 6% to $7.7 billion on both a reported and constant currency basis as compared to the same period last year, due to the reduction in stadium show volume this year. Our operating income for the quarter decreased by $14 million, or 2%, from $654 million in the third quarter of 2023 to $640 million in the third quarter of 2024 due to our Ticketing segment from the reduction in stadium show volume partially offset by improved performance from our Concerts and Sponsorship business segments. The decrease in operating income was $10 million, or 2%, at constant currency.

For the first nine months of 2024, our consolidated revenue increased by $566 million, or 3%, compared to the same period in 2023, from $16.9 billion to $17.5 billion. The increase was $651 million, or 4%, on a constant currency basis. We had consolidated operating income of $1.1 billion for the first nine months of 2024, a decrease of $102 million compared to the first nine months of 2023. Despite stronger operating performance in our Concerts and Sponsorship segments, these positive results were negatively impacted by the Astroworld estimated loss contingencies as well as reduced revenue in our Ticketing segment. Consolidated AOI for the first nine months increased by $224 million, or 13%, compared to the same period in 2023, from $1.8 billion to $2.0 billion. The increase was $250 million, or 14%, on a constant currency basis.

All of the segment financial comments to follow are based on reported foreign currency exchange rates.

Our Concerts segment revenue for the quarter decreased by $391 million, or 6%, from $7.0 billion in the third quarter of 2023 to $6.6 billion in the third quarter of 2024. The revenue reduction was the result of fewer stadium shows and fans this quarter. The total number of events for the third quarter of 2024 was approximately 12,800 compared to 12,100 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 700 events or 6%. The number of fans for the quarter was 50 million compared to 52 million last year, a reduction of 2 million fans or 4%. The decrease in activity largely resulted from the aforementioned change in stadium activity partially offset by more fans attending arena shows as well as theaters and clubs. We saw double digit arena fan growth globally this quarter, most notably in the United States. Some of the major acts touring in the third quarter of 2024 included Bruno Mars, Pink, Green Day, and Adele. Our larger festivals in the quarter included Rock in Rio, Lollapalooza Chicago, Rock Werchter in Belgium and Reading and Leads in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Concerts AOI for the quarter was $474

million compared to $341 million in the third quarter of 2023, for growth of $133 million or 39%. Operating income margins increased from 3.2% in the third quarter of 2023 to 4.5% in the third quarter of 2024 while AOI margin for the third quarter of 2024 was 7.2% compared to 4.9% last year.

For the first nine months of 2024, Concerts revenue grew $561 million compared to the same period in 2023, from $13.9 billion to $14.4 billion. For the first nine months of 2024, our Concerts fan count was nearly 112 million compared to 108 million for the same period in 2023, an increase of nearly 4 million fans or 3%. Fan growth has been driven by more activity in arenas, our owned and operated amphitheaters as well as more theater and club content. Onsite spending per fan at our United States amphitheater shows for same-store artists (those artists performing at least three amphitheater shows in either 2022 or 2023 compared to 2024) during the first nine months of 2024 is pacing ahead of full-year 2023 by 9%, driven by higher food and beverage and upsell spending. For our larger festivals, the onsite spend growth has continued as well. With roughly 85% of our festival events now played off, we have seen double-digit growth in per fan spend, driven largely by higher food and beverage and VIP sales. Concerts AOI for the first nine months increased by $238 million, or 47%, compared to the same period in 2023, from $505 million to $743 million. Operating income margins decreased from 1.5% for the first nine months of 2023 to 0.8% for the first nine months of 2024, which was impacted by the Astroworld estimated loss contingencies. AOI margin for the first nine months of 2024 was 5.1% compared to 3.6% last year.

Our Ticketing segment revenue for the quarter decreased by $144 million, or 17%, from $838 million in the third quarter of 2023 to $694 million in the third quart

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Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Required information is within Part I — Financial Information—Item 2.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Market Risk.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

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 September 30, 2024, 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.

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.

PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

Information regarding our legal proceedings can be found in Part I—Financial Information—Item 1. Financial Statements—Note 6 – Commitments and Contingent Liabilities.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

While we attempt to identify, manage and mitigate risks and uncertainties associated with our business to the extent practical under the circumstances, some level of risk and uncertainty will always be present. Part I—Item 1A.—Risk Factors of our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 22, 2024, describes some of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations, and the trading price of our common stock could decline as a result. We do not believe that there have been any material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Purchase of Equity Securities

The following table provides information regarding repurchases of our common stock during the three months ended September 30, 2024:

PeriodTotal Number of Shares Purchased (1)Average Price Paid per Share (1)Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program (2)Maximum Fair Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Program (2)
July 202415,172$95.88
August 20244,923$91.56
September 20244,100$96.33
24,195
(1) Represents shares of common stock that employees surrendered as part of the default option to satisfy withholding taxes in connection with the vesting of restricted stock awards under our stock incentive plan. Pursuant to the terms of our stock plan, such shares revert to available shares under the plan.
(2) We do not have a publicly announced program to purchase shares of our common stock. Accordingly, there were no shares purchased as part of a publicly announced program.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities

None.

Item 5. Other Information

No director or officer adopted or terminated any Rule 10b5-1 plan, or any other written trading arrangement that meets the requirements of a “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” during the three months ended September 30, 2024.

On November 5, 2024, we amended our senior secured credit facility and entered into Amendment No. 12 (the “Amendment”) to our Credit Agreement, dated as of May 6, 2010 (as amended, restated, supplemented or modified prior to Amendment No. 12, the “Credit Agreement” and as amended by Amendment No. 12, the “Amended Credit Agreement”). The Amendment added a venue expansion revolving credit facility of $400 million, which resulted in a total available borrowing capacity of $1.7 billion.

The Amended Credit Agreement contains a financial covenant that requires the Company to maintain a maximum ratio of consolidated net debt to consolidated EBITDA (both as defined in the Amended Credit Agreement) that ranges from 6.75x to 5.25x, with the first step down of 0.50x occurring on March 31, 2026 and additional step downs of 0.50x occurring annually thereafter.

The new revolving credit facility matures on November 5, 2029, provided, that if (x) any of the term B loans, the Company’s 2027 senior secured notes, or the Company’s 2027 senior unsecured notes remain outstanding on the date that is ninety-one days prior to the stated maturity thereof in an aggregate principal amount in excess of $500.0 million and (y) the Company’s consolidated free cash on such date is less than the sum of such outstanding principal amount plus $500.0 million, then the maturity date of the new revolving credit facility will instead be such date.

Item 6. Exhibits

Exhibit DescriptionIncorporated by ReferenceFiled Herewith
Exhibit No.FormFile No.Exhibit No.Filing Date
31.1Certification of Chief Executive Officer.X
31.2Certification of Chief Financial Officer.X
32.1Section 1350 Certification of Chief Executive Officer.X
32.2Section 1350 Certification of Chief Financial Officer.X
101.INSXBRL Instance Document - this instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.X
101.SCHXBRL Taxonomy Schema Document.X
101.CALXBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase Document.X
101.DEFXBRL Taxonomy Definition Linkbase Document.X
101.LABXBRL Taxonomy Label Linkbase Document.X
101.PREXBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document.X
104Cover Page Interactive Data File (Formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)X

§ Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements 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 November 12, 2024.

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
By:/s/ Brian Capo
Brian Capo
Chief Accounting Officer (Duly Authorized Officer)