lyv-20201231

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

__________________________________________

Form 10-K


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

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,


☐			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)


Delaware						20-3247759
(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 Class

Trading Symbol(s)

Name of Each Exchange on which Registered

Common Stock, $.01 Par Value per Share

LYV

New York Stock Exchange

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 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 and post 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 Filer

Accelerated 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 has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. x

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, 2020, 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 $6.4 billion. (For purposes hereof, directors, executive officers and 10% or greater stockholders have been deemed affiliates).

On February 22, 2021, there were 218,047,105 outstanding shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share, including 3,849,952 shares of unvested restricted and deferred stock awards and excluding 408,024 shares held in treasury.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of our Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 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


		Page
PART I
ITEM 1.	BUSINESS	2
ITEM 1A.	RISK FACTORS	16
ITEM 1B.	UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS	30
ITEM 2.	PROPERTIES	31
ITEM 3.	LEGAL PROCEEDINGS	31
PART II
ITEM 5.	MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES	32
ITEM 6.	SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA	32
ITEM 7.	MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS	33
ITEM 7A.	QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK	52
ITEM 8.	FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA	53
ITEM 9.	CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE	102
ITEM 9A.	CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES	102
ITEM 9B.	OTHER INFORMATION	104
PART III
ITEM 10.	DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE	104
ITEM 11.	EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION	104
ITEM 12.	SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS	104
ITEM 13.	CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE	104
ITEM 14.	PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES	104
PART IV
ITEM 15.	EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES	105
ITEM 16.	FORM 10-K SUMMARY	112

Table of Contents

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS





AOCI			Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
AOI			Adjusted operating income (loss)



Company			Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and subsidiaries





FASB			Financial Accounting Standards Board




GAAP			United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles



Liberty Media			Liberty Media Corporation
Live Nation			Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and subsidiaries
LNE			Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.







SEC			United States Securities and Exchange Commission






VIE			Variable interest entity
Ticketmaster			The ticketing business of the Company

Table of Contents

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 risk or uncertainty that has already materialized, such as, for example, the risks and uncertainties posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, 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.

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

The unprecedented and rapid spread of COVID-19 and the related government restrictions and social distancing measures implemented throughout the world have significantly impacted our live event business. We initially saw event restrictions in Asia and parts of Europe. Beginning in March 2020, large public events were cancelled, governmental authorities began imposing restrictions on non-essential activities, and businesses suspended activities around the world. As the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic became clearer, we ceased all Live Nation tours and closed our venues in mid-March 2020 to support global efforts at social distancing and mitigating the virus, and to comply with restrictions put in place by various governmental entities, which has had a materially negative impact on our revenue and financial position.

Operating Results

Our annual results were materially impacted by these necessary actions. Our overall revenue for the year decreased by 84% to $1.9 billion. The revenue reduction was across all of our segments as a result of few shows occurring globally beginning in the last half of March 2020 and low ticket sales for future shows during the same period, along with the impact of ticket refunds and show cancellations. Our operating results for the year decreased as compared to 2019 largely due to the global COVID-19 pandemic impacts to our business to a loss for the year of $1.7 billion, including $27.5 million of impairment charges for 2020.

Table of Contents

The revenue recognized in our Concerts segment in 2020 included the results of all the shows that occurred prior to the stoppage of events in mid-March. Our event-related deferred revenue for Concerts, which is reported as part of deferred revenue on our consolidated balance sheets, includes the face value and Concerts’ share of service charges for all tickets sold by December 31, 2020, for shows expected to occur in the next 12 months. Any refunds committed to for shows cancelled or rescheduled during the year have either been returned to fans or are reflected in accrued expenses on the consolidated balance sheets. In addition, we have recorded an estimate of $102.0 million in Concerts for refunds that may occur in the future for shows we believe may be cancelled or rescheduled based on the limited amount of data available on refunds resulting from the global shutdown of our live events. This estimate only impacts our financial position as a reclassification from deferred revenue or other long-term liabilities to accrued expenses. We expect that the majority of our shows postponed due to the pandemic will be rescheduled. Event-related deferred revenue for tickets sold for shows expected to occur after December 31, 2021 totaled $35 million and is reflected in other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets.

The revenue recognized in our Ticketing segment in 2020 includes our share of ticket service charges for tickets sold during the period for third-party clients and for shows that occurred in the period for our Concerts business where our promoters control the ticketing. Revenue in the period has been reduced by refunds given during the period. In addition, revenue has been reduced for any shows that were cancelled and for refunds requested on rescheduled shows up to the time of the filing of these consolidated financial statements, and funds have either been returned to the customer or are reflected in accrued expenses on the consolidated balance sheets. Our ticketing clients determine if shows will be rescheduled or cancelled and what the refund policy will be for those shows. We have not recorded an estimate for refunds that may occur in the future since our clients, not Ticketmaster, determine when shows are cancelled or rescheduled and we have a limited amount of historical data of refunds resulting from a global shutdown of live events on which to reliably determine an estimate. By the end of 2020 and through the time of this filing, Ticketing had processed or accrued for cancellations or refunds on 27.4 million tickets.

For events that are cancelled, our standard policy is to refund the fan within 30 days, though subject to regulations in various markets and in some cases at the discretion of venue or event organizer clients. Our ticket refund policies for rescheduled shows vary by ticketing client and country. In multiple international markets, including Germany, Italy and Belgium, governmental regulations which allow for the issuance of vouchers in place of cash refunds for rescheduled shows, and in some cases for cancelled shows, have been put in place in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The volume and pace of cash refunds has had and may continue to have a material negative effect on our liquidity and capital resources.

The length and severity of the reduction in live events due to the pandemic is uncertain; accordingly, we currently expect the negative impact to continue in 2021. The exact timing and pace of the recovery is uncertain given the significant impact of the pandemic and the uncertainty on the timing of the roll out of vaccines on the overall United States and global economies. We believe the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic on our operations have had, and will continue to have a material negative impact on our financial results and liquidity, and such negative impact may continue beyond the containment of such outbreak. We have never previously experienced a complete cessation of our live events or a large-scale reduction in the number of events selling tickets, and as a consequence, our ability to be predictive regarding the impact of these circumstances is uncertain and we are unable to estimate the impact on our business, financial condition or near- or longer-term financial or operational results.

Cash and available liquidity

We amended our senior secured credit facility in April 2020 and further amended it in July 2020 which, among other things, substitutes our net leverage covenant under our senior secured credit facility with a $500 million liquidity covenant (as defined in the agreement) until the earlier of (a) December 31, 2021 and (b) at our election, any fiscal quarter prior to December 31, 2021. These amendments will allow us the flexibility to manage our business through the disruption that we experienced in 2020 and expect to experience in 2021.

In addition, we added a new incremental revolving credit facility of $130 million, extending our undrawn debt capacity. Following this increase, we currently have approximately $961.7 million in available debt capacity, including $400 million in undrawn term loan A capacity and $561.7 million in available revolver capacity, net of outstanding letters of credit. In addition, in February 2020, we issued $400 million principal amount of 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025 and in May 2020 we issued $1.2 billion principal amount of 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027. In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028. We will continue to evaluate future financing opportunities to further expand liquidity at reasonable costs.

As of December 31, 2020, our total cash and cash equivalents balance was $2.5 billion, which included $673.5 million of ticketing client cash. We believe this cash, net of client cash, together with our available debt capacity of $961.7 million, gives us the liquidity to fund our operations during the pandemic. Our total cash includes event-related deferred revenue for which the amount can fluctuate over the course of the year, but given the shift of shows into 2021, we expect this number to remain above seasonally normal levels throughout the first half of 2021.

Table of Contents

Event-related deferred revenue consists of cash held by our Concerts business for future shows, with roughly half the funds associated with upcoming shows in the United States and half for international shows as of December 31, 2020. In the United States, the funds are largely associated with shows in our owned or operated venues, notably amphitheaters, festivals, theaters and clubs. Internationally, the funds held are from a combination of both shows in our owned or operated venues, as well as shows in third-party venues associated with our promoter share of tickets in allocation markets. We do not otherwise generally hold funds for concerts being held in third-party buildings. In the United States, venues traditionally hold all funds, and internationally either the venue holds all funds or holds the portion of funds associated with their ticket allocation.

Cost and Cash Management Programs

Given the uncertainty associated with the duration of current conditions globally, we have implemented a number of initiatives to reduce fixed costs and conserve cash. As part of these cost reduction efforts, we have implemented salary reductions for most of our employees, with salaries for senior executives reduced by up to 60% during 2020. Additional cost reduction efforts include hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, rent re-negotiations, furloughs, termination of certain employees and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment, repairs and maintenance, and marketing.

We are also making use of government support programs globally. In most European and Asian markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia, there were payroll support programs to mitigate a substantial portion of employee costs, some of which are continuing into 2021. Additionally, in the United States, we have filed for payroll support under the Employee Retention Credit program established as part of the 2020 CARES Act. Finally, the CARES Act also provides for deferred payment of the employer portion of social security taxes through the end of 2020, with 50% of the deferred amount due December 31, 2021 and the remaining 50% due December 31, 2022.

We are further protecting our cash outflows by reducing advances in both our ticketing and concert businesses, re-assessing all capital expenditure projects and evaluating all other cash deployment activities. As a result of these initiatives and government support programs, we achieved over $950 million in cost reductions in 2020 and the elimination or deferral into 2021 of $1.6 billion in cash outflows, which primarily includes the cost reductions discussed above along with lower capital expenditures, acquisition payments, and concert and ticketing advances. We believe this aggressive cost and cash management program, combined with a strong liquidity profile, positions us to manage through the global COVID-19 pandemic-related hold on show activity and provides the flexibility to scale up quickly when shows restart.

Based on these actions and assumptions regarding the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that we will remain in compliance with our debt covenants throughout 2021 and be able to generate sufficient liquidity to satisfy our obligations for the next twelve months, prior to giving effect to any additional financings that may occur. Our forecasted expense management and liquidity measures may be modified as we get more clarity on the timing of events. We cannot assure you that our assumptions used to estimate our liquidity requirements will be correct because we have never previously experienced a complete cessation of our live events and the magnitude, duration and speed of the global pandemic is unknown, and as a consequence, our ability to be predictive is uncertain.

Health and Safety and Planning for a Return to Business

We are currently planning for the health and safety of our employees as they return to work in our offices in the future, and for our artists and fans as they return to live events. We will return to work in local markets only after there is clear guidance that the time is right to do so, and then in appropriate numbers with expanded cleaning and any social distancing or other regulations. Similarly, we are planning for the resumption of concerts when the time is right. We will let the facts and science tell us when we should start putting on concerts again. We recognize the experience at our venues will change when concerts start back up, and are working with medical experts and public health officials to implement safety precautions and protocols necessary for fans to return to enjoy our shows. Recent fan surveys indicate that the demand will be there when the shows return, with 95% of fans expecting to attend concerts again once the pandemic is over. We expect the re-opening of concerts will happen on a market by market basis, and given we operate in 46 countries globally, the timelines will vary from now to not for several months or beyond. The length and severity of the impact to live events and our related sponsorship and ticketing businesses is still uncertain. We currently do not anticipate a significant change in activity levels until early in the second half of 2021. We expect that most global tours will resume and larger venues will reopen in the second half of 2021 and that the underlying business will begin generating operating income once again.

While this disruption has had a material impact on our business, 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 once business resumes. Twenty years of global growth demonstrates the resilience of fan demand for the live entertainment experience. We are actively taking steps to ensure that when the time is right for us to do so, we will be ready to ramp back up quickly and once again connect audiences to artists at the concerts they are looking forward to.

Table of Contents

Because of the impact that the pandemic has had on our business in 2020, we are using operational metrics below based on 2019 results as they are more representative of the size of our business.

Our Company

We believe that we are the largest live entertainment company in the world, connecting over 580 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms in 46 countries.

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 nearly 98 million fans to more than 40,000 events for over 5,000 artists in 2019. Live Nation owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest in 289 venues, including House of Blues® music venues and prestigious locations such as The Fillmore® in San Francisco, Brooklyn Bowl®, the Hollywood Palladium, the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, 3Arena in Ireland, Royal Arena in Copenhagen and Spark Arena in New Zealand. 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 music artists and acts across all music genres. As of December 31, 2019, we had nearly 110 managers providing services to more than 500 artists.

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, mobile apps, numerous retail outlets and call centers, selling over 485 million tickets through our systems in 2019. Ticketmaster serves nearly 11,500 clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, festival and concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters.

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 grow our leadership position in live entertainment, promote more shows, sell more tickets and partner with more sponsors, thereby increasing our revenue, earnings and cash flow. We serve 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 advertisers that want to connect their brands with our passionate fan base.

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

•Expand our Concert Platform. We will deliver more shows, grow our fan base and increase our ticket sales by continuing to build our portfolio of concerts globally, expanding our business into additional top global music markets, and further building our presence in existing markets. Through our strong partnership with artists, agents and managers, we believe we can continue to expand our concert base by delivering strong and consistent services.

•Grow our Revenue per Show. We will grow our revenue per show across our venues through more effective ticket pricing, broader ticketing distribution and more targeted promotional marketing. We will also grow our onsite fan monetization through improved onsite products, merchandising, and enhanced experiences for our fans.

•Sell More Tickets and Invest in Product Improvements. We are focused on selling tickets through a wide set of sales channels, including mobile and online, and leveraging our fan database. We will continue to enhance our API features to reach a broader audience and expand our digital ticketing rollout, strengthening control over distribution for all parties and creating new and unique marketing opportunities. We will grow the volume of secondary tickets sold through a trusted environment for fan ticket exchanges, allowing our fans to have a dependable, secure destination for secondary ticket acquisition for all events. We will continue to invest in our ticketing platforms and develop innovative products to build fan traffic to our sales channels, drive increased ticket sales, and continue to build our client base.

Table of Contents

•Grow Sponsorship and Advertising Partnerships. We will continue to drive growth in our sponsorship relationships and capture a larger share of the global music sponsorship market. We will focus on expanding existing partnerships and developing new corporate sponsor partners to provide them with targeted strategic programs, accessing the fans attending our shows each year. We will continue to develop and to scale new products in order to drive onsite revenue.

Our Strengths

We believe we have unique resources that are unmatched in the live entertainment industry.

•Fans. We connected over 580 million fans to their favorite live event in 2019. Our database of fans and their interests provides us with the means to efficiently market our shows to them.

•Artists. We have extensive relationships with artists ranging from those just beginning their careers to established superstars. We promoted shows or tours for over 5,000 artists globally in 2019. In addition, through our artist management companies, we manage more than 500 artists.

•Online Services and Ticketing. We own and operate various branded websites, both in the United States and abroad, which are customized to reflect services offered in each jurisdiction. Our primary websites, www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com, together with our other branded ticketing websites, are designed to promote ticket sales for live events. We also have both Live Nation and Ticketmaster mobile apps that our fans can use to access event information and buy tickets.

•Distribution Network. We believe that our global distribution network of promoters, venues and festivals provides us with a strong position in the live concert industry. We believe we have one of the largest global networks of live entertainment businesses in the world, with offices in 41 countries worldwide. In addition, we own, operate, have exclusive booking rights for, or have an equity interest in, 289 venues located across 46 countries as of the end of 2020, making us, we believe, the second largest operator of music venues in the world. We also believe that we are one of the largest music festival producers in the world with 111 festivals globally in 2019. In addition, we believe that our global ticketing distribution network—which includes one of the largest ecommerce sites and related apps along with nearly 11,500 clients worldwide in 2019—makes us the largest ticketing network in the world.

•Sponsors. We employ a sales force of over 500 people that works with nearly 1,200 sponsors, through a combination of strategic partnerships, local venue-related deals, national agreements and digital campaigns, both in North America and internationally. Our sponsors include some of the most well-recognized national and global brands including Citibank, O2, American Express, Cisco, Hilton, Red Bull and Anheuser Busch (each of these brands is a registered trademark of the sponsor).

Our Industry

We operate in the following main industries within the live entertainment business: live music events, music venue operations, the provision of management and other services to artists and athletes, ticketing 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 work with promoters, who will contract with them or with artists directly, to arrange events. 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. Artist managers primarily provide services to music 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.

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, parking and premium seating.

Table of Contents

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 generally gets paid a fixed fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the total ticket service charges. 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. 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.

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

The sponsorship and advertising industry within the live entertainment business involves the sale of international, national, regional and local advertising and promotional programs to a variety of companies to advertise or promote their brand, product or service. These sponsorships typically include venue naming rights, onsite venue signage, online advertisements and exclusive partner rights in various categories such as credit card, beverage, travel and telecommunications, and may include event pre-sales and onsite product activation.

Our Business

Our reportable segments are Concerts, Ticketing 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, the creation of associated content and the provision of management and other services to artists. Including intersegment revenue, our Concerts business generated $1.5 billion, or 78.9%, of our total revenue during 2020. We promoted more than 8,000 live music and other events in 2020. While our Concerts segment operates year-round traditionally, we 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. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally in mid-March due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we did not promote our usual number of shows or experience our typical seasonality trends in 2020.

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 promote, 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 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 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 limited 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 and 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 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.

Table of Contents

Ticketing. Our Ticketing segment is primarily an agency business that sells tickets for events on behalf of its clients and retains a portion of the service charge as its fee. 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 2020, we sold 41%, 54%, 4% and 1% of primary tickets through these channels, respectively. Our Ticketing segment also manages our online activities including enhancements to our websites and product offerings. Including intersegment revenue, our Ticketing business generated $188.4 million, or 10.1%, of our total revenue during 2020, which excludes the face value of tickets sold and is net of the fees paid to our ticketing clients. Through all of our ticketing services, we sold 31 million tickets in 2020 on which we were paid fees for our services. In addition, approximately 89 million tickets were sold using our Ticketmaster systems, including through season seat packages, our venue clients’ box offices, and other channels through which we did 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. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of live events globally in mid-March or reduction in the number of fans in attendance due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we did not sell our usual number of tickets in 2020.

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, sometimes with our guidance and recommendations. Agreements with venue clients in North America and Australia generally grant us exclusive rights 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 in other international markets generally grant us the right to an allocation of tickets for 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. Similarly, in such international markets we have venue agreements which provide Ticketmaster an allocation of tickets for all events at those venues. While we generally have the right to sell a substantial portion of our clients’ tickets, venue and promoter clients often sell and distribute a portion of their tickets in-house through their box office and season ticket programs. In addition, under many written agreements between promoters and our clients, and generally subject to Ticketmaster approval, the client may allocate certain tickets for artist, promoter, agent and venue use and not make those tickets available for sale by us. Due to these and other permitted third-party ticket distribution channels, we do not always sell all of our clients’ tickets, even at venues where we are the exclusive primary ticketing service provider, and the amount of tickets that we sell varies from client to client and from event to event, and also varies as to any given client from year to year.

We currently offer ticket resale services, sometimes referred to as secondary ticketing, principally through our integrated inventory platform, league/team platforms and other platforms internationally. We enter into arrangements with the holders of tickets previously distributed by a venue or other source to post those tickets for sale at a purchase price equal to a new sales price, determined by the ticket holder, plus a service fee to the buyer. The seller in this circumstance receives the new sales price less a seller service fee.

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 concert, festival, venue and ticketing assets, including advertising on our websites. We work with our corporate clients to help create marketing programs that support 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 presented exclusively to the clients’ consumers. These custom events can involve live music events with talent and media, using both online and traditional outlets. Including intersegment revenue, our Sponsorship & Advertising business generated $203.7 million, or 10.9%, of our total revenue during 2020. 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. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally in mid-March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we did not recognize our normal amount of sponsorship revenue or experience our typical seasonality trends in 2020.

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

Table of Contents

Live Nation Venue Details

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

•Stadiums—Stadiums are multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Stadiums typically have 30,000 or more seats. Although they are the largest venues available for live music, they are not specifically designed for live music.

•Amphitheaters—Amphitheaters are generally outdoor venues with between 5,000 and 30,000 seats that are used primarily in the summer season. We believe they are popular because they are designed specifically for concert events, with premium seat packages and better lines of sight and acoustics.

•Arenas—Arenas are indoor venues that are used as multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Arenas typically have between 5,000 and 20,000 seats. Because they are indoors, they are able to offer amenities that other similar-sized outdoor venues cannot, such as luxury suites and premium club memberships. As a result, we believe they are popular for higher-priced concerts aimed at audiences willing to pay for these amenities.

•Theaters—Theaters are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events, but may include theatrical performances. These venues typically have a capacity of between 1,000 and 6,500. 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. Because these venues have a smaller capacity than an amphitheater or arena, they do not offer as much economic upside on a per show basis. Theaters can also be used year-round.

•Clubs—Clubs are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events, but may also include comedy clubs. These venues typically have a capacity of less than 1,000 and often without full fixed seating. Because of their small size, they do not offer as much economic upside, but they also represent less risk to a concert promoter because they have lower fixed costs associated with hosting a concert and also may provide a more appropriately-sized venue for developing artists. Clubs can also be used year-round.

•Restaurants & Music Halls—Restaurants & Music Halls are indoor venues that offer customers an integrated live music, entertainment and dining experience. This category includes our House of Blues® and Brooklyn Bowl® venues whose live music halls are specially designed to provide optimum acoustics and typically can accommodate between 1,000 to 2,000 guests. A full-service restaurant and bar is located adjacent to the live music hall. We believe that the strength of the brand and the quality of the food, service and unique atmosphere in our restaurants attract customers to these venues independently from a live music event and generate a significant amount of repeat business from local customers.

•Festival Sites—Festival sites are outdoor locations used primarily in the summer season to stage large single-day or multi-day concert events featuring several artists on multiple stages. Depending on the location, festival site capacities can range from 10,000 to over 100,000 fans per day. We believe they are popular because of the value provided to the fan by packaging several artists together for an event. While festival sites only host a few events each year, they can provide higher operating income because we are able to generate income from many different services provided at the event.

•Other Venues—Other venues includes restaurants and exhibition halls that typically are not used for live music events.

Table of Contents

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, 2020:


Venue Type	Capacity	Owned	Leased	Operated	Exclusive Booking Rights	Equity Interest	Total

Stadium	More than 30,000	—	1	1	1	—	3
Amphitheater	5,000 - 30,000	10	33	4	13	—	60
Arena	5,000 - 20,000	1	10	2	3	1	17
Theater	1,000 - 6,500	7	53	9	21	2	92
Club	Less than 1,000	3	33	1	14	—	51
Restaurants & Music Halls	1,000 - 2,000	2	12	—	—	—	14
Festival Sites (1)	Varies	5	—	37	—	—	42
Other Venues	Varies	—	7	—	—	3	10
Total venues in operation (2)		28	149	54	52	6	289

Venues currently under construction		—	8	1	—	3	12
Venues not currently in operation		—	1	—	—	—	1

Total venues in operation by location:
North America		19	116	20	52	5	212
International		9	33	34	—	1	77

__________

(1)Operated festival sites includes multi-year agreements providing us the right to use public or private land for a defined period of time leading up to and continuing after the festival. We may enter into multiple agreements for a single festival site or use the same site for multiple festivals. We have aggregated the agreements for each festival site and reported them as one festival site.

(2)Venues in operation includes our venues that were closed temporarily beginning in mid-March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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:

•the quality of service delivered to our artists, fans, ticketing clients and corporate sponsors;

•our track record and reputation in promoting and producing live music events and tours both domestically and internationally;

•our artist relationships;

•our global footprint;

•the quality of our ticketing software and services;

•our ecommerce site and its extensive database;

•our diverse distribution platform of venues;

•the scope, effectiveness and expertise of our advertising and sponsorship programs; and

•our financial stability.

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 greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources.

Table of Contents

In the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from other 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 promotion industry are Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, Another Planet Entertainment, Jam Productions, Ltd. and I.M.P 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 Presents, Concerts West, Frontier Touring, Goldenvoice and Messina Touring 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 ASM Global, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., The Nederlander Organization and Bowery Presents, in addition to numerous smaller regional companies in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Some of our competitors in venue management may have more attractive or 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, it 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 have 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, notwithstanding federal and state prohibitions. The internet allows fans and other ticket resellers to reach a vastly larger audience through the aggregation of inventory on 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 competitors include primary ticketing companies such as Tickets.com, AXS, Paciolan, Inc., CTS Eventim AG, Eventbrite, eTix, Ticketfly and SeatGeek; secondary ticketing companies such as StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, Viagogo and SeatGeek; and many others, including large technology and ecommerce companies that we understand have recently entered or could enter these markets.

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, strong brand association and attractive 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:

•privacy and the protection of personal or sensitive information;

•compliance with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries;

•primary ticketing and ticket resale services;

•construction, renovation and operation of our venues;

•licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances;

•human health, safety and sanitation requirements;

•the service of food and alcoholic beverages;

•working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws;

•compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), the United Kingdom’s Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (“DDA”) and similar regulations in other countries;

Table of Contents

•hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws;

•sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes;

•marketing activities via the telephone and online; and

•historic landmark rules.

We believe that we are materially in compliance with these laws.

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, including the European Union’s GDPR (as defined and discussed below in Item 1A.—Risk Factors) and the recently-enacted California Consumer Protection Act.

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.

From time to time, federal, state, local and international authorities and/or consumers commence investigations, inquiries or litigation with respect to our compliance with applicable consumer protection, advertising, unfair business practice, antitrust (and similar or related laws) and other laws, particularly as related to primary ticketing and ticket resale services.

The regulations relating to our food service operations 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.

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. Some jurisdictions have also 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.

Our People and Culture

Bringing more than 40,000 events to life and connecting over 580 million fans across all of our concerts and ticketing platforms, as we did in 2019 prior to the global Covid-19 pandemic, is a massive undertaking, made possible by our thousands of employees spread across 46 countries. Our teams come together every day to grow our business, and we recognize our people are the key to our success—whether they’re putting on a show at one of our venues, selling tickets, working with our brand partners or supporting our businesses in a myriad of other ways.

Table of Contents

Taking Care of Our Own

Our core value with our employees is “taking care of our own,” which means our top priority is making sure that every employee can rely on the company to go above just providing standard compensation and benefits by offering assistance for a range of planned and unplanned situations. We also ensure that our employees have direct access to senior executives to raise concerns and share ideas. Our programs are structured under seven core pillars, designed to support key life moments:

•Taking Care of Yourself: To enhance overall happiness and wellness, we offer flexible vacation time, free ticket perks and in-house meditation sessions, crisis support and crowdfunding networks, and more.

•Taking Care of Your Health: Beyond a full suite of medical, dental and vision benefits, we provide access to virtual doctor’s appointments and mental health services.

•Taking Care of Your Family: We provide assistance with fertility needs such as egg-freezing, egg-donation and IVF, as well as adoption or surrogacy, primary caregiver leave for new parents, sick leave to care for loved ones, and leave for bereavement or end-of-life care.

•Taking Care of Your Career: We offer many different career advancement opportunities including leadership workshops for mid-career employees, recognition for successful patent applications, live and on-demand training and tuition reimbursement to further an ongoing education.

•Taking Care of Your Wealth: To support long-term financial goals, we have traditionally provided 401(k) or pension matching, a stock reimbursement program, and student loan repayment assistance.

•Taking Care of Our Own: During life’s most difficult moments, we offer employees financial support to help them through a variety of crises, including unexpected deaths, natural disasters, and escaping domestic violence. To this end, in March 2020, in partnership with House of Blues Music Forward Foundation, we announced Crew Nation, a global relief fund offering financial support to live music crews while concerts are on pause due to the pandemic to which we have donated over $10 million.

•Taking Care of Others: In order to empower our employees to get involved in causes that are meaningful to them, we provide paid time off for them to volunteer in their local communities.

While some of these programs have temporarily been impacted by the pandemic, our strong commitment of taking care of every employee makes Live Nation a better place, which in turn helps drive our operating successes.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

We are continually striving towards our goal of being as diverse as the fans and artists that we serve, with an aim to uplift people across race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other underrepresented groups. Programs key to this mission include:

•Live Nation Women Fund: An early-stage investment fund we have created focused on female-led live music businesses.

•Promotion and pay: Ongoing reviews of positions and compensation with the goal of ensuring that all employees across Live Nation are paid appropriately and provided with promotion opportunities, regardless of individual demographics.

•Employee Resource Groups: Programs that focus on empowering underrepresented groups within our employee base through career development, networking, talent development, advocacy, non-profit support and community outreach. Our employees have created a network of over 40 local chapters across seven groups, with over 8,000 employees attending the over 140 events held across the world in 2019.

•2025 Diversity Goals: In July 2020, in response to events in the U.S. and around the world that sparked overdue reflection on racism and discrimination in our societies, we announced ambitious goals to strengthen the company’s diversity from the top down that we will strive to obtain by the end of 2025.

Human Capital

Our compensation philosophy is focused on attracting and retaining talented individuals who contribute to our values and help lead our dynamic and innovative environment. To determine market-competitive pay for our employees, we use a combination of entertainment and technology industry benchmarks.

Table of Contents

We are committed to encouraging and rewarding pay-for-performance that is aligned with business objectives in the best interest of our shareholders for long-term growth and profitability. We further strive to reward individual achievements and contributions that are both aligned with and supportive of our short- and long-term goals and core business values. We believe that our efforts in these areas are working and contributing to the overall success of the company, as evidenced by accolades such as obtaining a Great Place to Work® certification (2017-19), placing fourth on Indeed's list of the World's 50 Best Workplaces (2019), placing third on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for the music sector (2019), and our inclusion on Forbes’ Best Employers For Diversity list (2019).

As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 8,200 full-time employees, including those on furlough due to the interruption in our business from the pandemic. During regular operational times, our staffing needs vary significantly throughout the year. Therefore, we also employ seasonal and part-time employees, primarily for our live music venues and festivals. At the end of 2019, prior to the pandemic, we employed approximately 15,400 seasonal and part-time employees and during peak seasonal periods, particularly in the summer months, we employed as many as 28,000 seasonal and part-time employees in 2019.

Labor Relations

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 have good relationships 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.

Information About Our Executive Officers

Set forth below are the names, ages and current positions of our executive officers and other significant employees as of February 22, 2021.

Name

Age

Position

Michael Rapino

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Joe Berchtold

President

Brian Capo

Chief Accounting Officer

Arthur Fogel

Chairman–Global Music and President–Global Touring

John Hopmans

Executive Vice President–Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Finance

John Reid

President–Europe Concerts

Alan Ridgeway

Chairman–Asia Pacific

Bob Roux

President–US Concerts

Michael Rowles

General Counsel and Secretary

Russell Wallach

President–Sponsorship and Advertising

Kathy Willard

Chief Financial Officer

Mark Yovich

President–Ticketmaster

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.

Joe Berchtold is our President and has served in this capacity since December 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Berchtold served as our Chief Operating Officer since joining us in April 2011.

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

Table of Contents

Arthur Fogel is the Chairman of our Global Music group and President of our Global Touring division and has served in these capacities 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 this capacity since joining us in January 2012.

Alan Ridgeway is Chairman of our Asia Pacific region and has served in this capacity since January 2019. Prior to that, Mr. Ridgeway served as President of our International and Emerging Markets division since November 2011. Mr. Ridgeway has worked for us or our predecessors since 2002.

Bob Roux is President of our US Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. 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.

Russell Wallach is President of our Sponsorship and Advertising 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 and has served in this capacity since December 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Yovich served as President of Ticketmaster’s International division since November 2011. Mr. Yovich has worked for us or our predecessors since 2000.

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 www.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.

Table of Contents

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

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 the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is likely to continue to have, a material negative impact on our business and operating results. The ultimate magnitude of this impact will depend on a variety of factors, including the duration of the pandemic, restrictions or new operational requirements in place or that result as our operations recommence on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis, the state of the global economy as a result of the pandemic, and the public’s willingness to attend events with large numbers of people, all of which are unknowable at this time.

In mid-March 2020, as the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic became clearer, we ceased all Live Nation tours and closed our venues to support global efforts at social distancing and mitigating the spread of the virus, and to comply with restrictions put in place by various governmental entities. Other concert promoters, venue operators and sports leagues around the globe similarly shut down. Each of our segments—Concerts, Ticketing and Sponsorship & Advertising—depends on live music and sporting events in order to generate most of its revenue. As of the date of this report, certain sports leagues have recommenced, but they have largely done so without fans or at greatly reduced capacity, and thus without the typical need for ticketing. There has also been extremely limited concert activity, largely outside of the United States, at reduced capacity. Until such time as fans are allowed at sporting events at capacity and concerts recommence in a meaningful way, our revenue will be minimal; the possibility exists that these circumstances might continue for a longer period of time than current expectations.

We have never previously experienced a complete cessation of our live music operations, and as a result, our ability to gauge the impact of such a cessation on our company and its future prospects is uncertain. Due to the unprecedented nature of the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on our business, our ability to forecast our cash inflows is hampered, and therefore our focus is on forecasting and managing operating costs and cash outflows against our overall liquidity position. At this time, it is impossible to know or predict when events will once again be held at a meaningful scope and scale, as at the outset of the pandemic national and local governments around the world placed various restrictions on gatherings of people and implemented social distancing requirements that prohibit the holding of these events, and have largely not relaxed these restrictions in a way that would again allow such events. In addition, it is currently unclear as to what restrictions will be placed on events once they recommence at various points in time in the 46 countries in which we operate.

The company faces ancillary risks and uncertainties arising from the global COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the current shutdown of its revenue-generating operations. Many of these risks and uncertainties are more fully described below in this Item 1A. whether or not such risk factors identify the global COVID-19 pandemic as the underlying cause, and many extend beyond the duration of the current shutdown due to the uncertainty as to how the live music and sporting industries, and the world in general, will change in the short and long term as a result of the pandemic. The risks and uncertainties described herein should be read in conjunction with those set forth below. Such additional or attendant risks and uncertainties include, among other things:

•the impact of any lingering economic downturn or recession resulting from the pandemic, including without limitation any reduction in discretionary spending or confidence for both consumers and sponsors/advertisers, such as a decline in ticket sales, attendance and revenue that the company has generally avoided in prior economic slowdowns but experienced during and after the global financial crisis in 2010;

•the increased risk of litigation in the current and future environment, such as pending lawsuits challenging aspects of the company’s ticket refund policies and procedures;

•a reduction in the profitability of our operations when concerts resume, whether due to increased operating costs of complying with governmental restrictions or safety precautions and protocols voluntarily undertaken, such as the need to supply personal protective equipment or conduct health screenings at points of ingress, or due to a reduction in revenue arising from such precautions, such as the potential that venues may not be able to be filled to capacity due to spacing and social distancing limitations in place at such time;

•the impact on our workforce, including as a result of employee furloughs as part of our cost-savings initiatives, which may include loss of key personnel as furloughed employees find other employment or choose not to return to the company, lowered employee morale, inability to replace hourly/seasonal workforce, or loss of important subcontractors, all of which may negatively impact our ability to quickly capitalize on opportunities as pandemic restrictions are eased or to conduct our operations in the future;

Table of Contents

•potential decreased willingness of artists to tour, or impracticability of touring due to varying restrictions from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, including the possibility that national or sub-national borders are closed to travel;

•potential changes to consumer preferences for consumption of live music or sporting events due to fears of, or restrictions on, large gatherings;

•some customers of our ticketing business may not receive refunds for ticket purchases if the venue/client hosting the impacted event is unable or unwilling to return the funds;

•loss of ticketing clients due to the economic impacts of the pandemic whereby they are no longer in operation, reducing the number of events to which our ticketing business can sell tickets;

•the inability to pursue expansion opportunities or acquisitions due to capital constraints;

•the future availability or increased cost of insurance coverage;

•a potential shift away from live events by sponsors and advertisers; and

•the incurrence of additional expenses related to compliance, precautions and management of our company during and after this period.

The likelihood of the realization or intensification of these risks and uncertainties and the ultimate magnitude of their impact on the company are not knowable or quantifiable at this time. The global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts may continue to endure for an unknown period of time. In addition, as has already occurred in various locations, the potential exists for further waves of the pandemic after the current wave of infections subsides, which may lead to stronger restrictions being put into place for a greater duration of time. Different jurisdictions will lift social distancing guidelines and restrictions on gatherings of people at different times, and will have different rules in place thereafter. The longer the duration of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the greater the ancillary and lingering effects, the greater the material negative impact on the company and its results of operations will be. While vaccination programs have begun around the world, we are still at the early stages and the ultimate impact of such programs on the pandemic and its duration, and thus on our business, are unknown.

In addition, due to the reduction in cash flows we have experienced and are likely to experience in the future from the global COVID-19 pandemic, we have proactively taken a number of steps to enhance our liquidity position, including our cost-savings and cash management programs described in Item 8.—Financial Statements—Note 2—Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic, the additional debt issuances and the amendments we made to our senior secured credit facility described in Item 8.—Financial Statements—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

Our decreased cash flows have heightened and intensified the risks described under the “Risks Relating to Our Leverage” section of the risk factors in this report. While amendments to our senior secured credit facility have relieved some of the pressure on the consolidated net leverage covenant therein, which requires us to maintain a ratio of consolidated total net debt to consolidated EBITDA (both as defined in the credit agreement), there can be no assurances that we will remain in compliance with this or other covenants in our debt and credit instruments, or that we would be able to obtain waivers or amendments in order to avoid default.

We will continue to evaluate and explore additional mechanisms to attempt to ensure that we have adequate capital to fund our business, including through the issuance and sale of additional debt or equity securities. The terms of future debt agreements could include more restrictive covenants, or require incremental collateral, which may further restrict our business operations or be unavailable due to our covenant restrictions then in effect. Due to potential liquidity concerns caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, in March and August 2020, Moody’s downgraded our Corporate Family Ratings and in May 2020, S&P downgraded the company’s credit ratings to B+ with a negative outlook; the likelihood that we may experience further negative credit actions increases the longer the duration of the pandemic and its ancillary effects. There is no guarantee that debt financings will be available in the future to fund our obligations, or that they will be available on terms consistent with our expectations. Additionally, the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the financial markets could adversely impact our ability to raise funds.

Table of Contents

Risks Relating to Our Business and the Live Events and Ticketing Industries

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 concerts business would be adversely affected. 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. 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.

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 music artists, as some agreements between a manager and an artist are not for a fixed period of time and are instead terminable at will.

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 sales of tickets. We also expect that revenue from primary ticketing services, which consists primarily of our portion of per ticket convenience charges and per order service 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.

Table of Contents

We face intense competition in the live music and ticketing 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. Within the live music industry, our artist management business also competes with numerous other artist management companies and individual managers in the United States alone, both to discover new and emerging artists and to represent established artists. Across the live music industry, 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 services providers or by increasing sales through venue box offices and season and subscription sales. We also face competition in the resale of tickets from resale marketplaces and from other ticket resellers with online distribution capabilities. The advent of new technology, particularly as it relates to online ticketing, has amplified this competition. The intense competition that we face in the ticketing industry could cause the volume of our ticketing services business to decline. As we are also a content provider and venue operator we may face direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients, who primarily include live event content providers. This direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients could result in a decline in the number of ticketing clients we have and a decline in the volume of our ticketing business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the secondary ticket sales market, we have restrictions on our business that are not faced by our competitors, imposed as a result of agreements entered into with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Attorneys General of several individual states, and various international governing bodies. These restrictions include: a requirement to clearly and conspicuously disclose on any primary ticketing website where a link or redirect to a resale website owned or controlled by us is posted, that the link is directing the user to a resale website and that ticket prices often exceed the ticket’s original price; and a requirement to make certain clear and conspicuous disclosures and in certain instances disclose when a ticket being offered for resale is not “in-hand” as well as a requirement to monitor and enforce the compliance of third parties offering tickets on our websites with such disclosure requirements. There are certain state laws that now ban such ticket listings, and the New York Attorney General has brought a lawsuit against resale companies for these practices.

Other variables related to the competitive environment that could adversely affect our financial performance by, among other things, leading to decreases in overall revenue, the number of sponsors, event attendance, ticket prices and fees or profit margins include:

•an increased level of competition for advertising dollars, which may lead to lower sponsorships as we attempt to retain advertisers or which may cause us to lose advertisers to our competitors offering better programs that we are unable or unwilling to match;

•unfavorable fluctuations in operating costs, including increased guarantees to artists, which we may be unwilling or unable to pass through to our customers via higher ticket prices;

•inability or unwillingness to fund the significant up-front cash requirements associated with our touring and ticketing businesses due to insufficient cash on hand or capacity under our senior secured credit facility, which could result in the loss of key tours to competitors or the inability to secure and retain ticketing clients;

•competitors’ offerings that may include more favorable terms than we do in order to obtain agreements for new venues or ticketing arrangements or to obtain events for the venues they operate;

•technological changes and innovations that we are unable to adopt or are late in adopting that offer more attractive entertainment alternatives than we or other live entertainment providers currently offer, which may lead to a reduction in attendance at live events, a loss of ticket sales or lower ticket fees; and

•other entertainment options available to our audiences that we do not offer.

Table of Contents

Our success depends, in significant part, on entertainment, sporting and leisure events and economic and other factors adversely affecting such events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A decline in attendance at or reduction in the number of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events may have an adverse effect on our revenue and operating income. In addition, during periods of economic slowdown and recession, many consumers have historically reduced their discretionary spending and advertisers have reduced their advertising expenditures. The impact of economic slowdowns on our business is difficult to predict, but they may result in reductions in ticket sales, sponsorship opportunities and our ability to generate revenue. The risks associated with our businesses may become more acute in periods of a slowing economy or recession, which may be accompanied by a decrease in attendance at live entertainment, sporting and leisure events. Many of the factors affecting the number and availability of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events are beyond our control. For instance, certain sports leagues have experienced labor disputes leading to threatened or actual player lockouts. Any such lockouts that result in shortened or canceled seasons would adversely impact our business to the extent that we provide ticketing services to the affected teams both due to the loss of games and ticketing opportunities as well as the possibility of decreased attendance following such a lockout due to adverse fan reaction.

Our business depends on discretionary consumer and corporate spending. Many factors related to corporate spending and discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as unemployment levels, fuel prices, interest rates, changes in tax rates and tax laws that impact companies or individuals, and inflation can significantly impact our operating results. Business conditions, as well as various industry conditions, including corporate marketing and promotional spending and interest levels, can also significantly impact our operating results. These factors can affect attendance at our events, premium seat sales, sponsorship, advertising and hospitality spending, concession and merchandise sales, as well as the financial results of sponsors of our venues, events and the industry. Negative factors such as challenging economic conditions and public concerns over terrorism and security incidents, particularly when combined, can impact corporate and consumer spending, and one negative factor can impact our results more than another. There can be no assurance that consumer and corporate spending will not be adversely impacted by current economic conditions, or by any future deterioration in economic conditions, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.

We are dependent upon our ability to lease, acquire and develop live music venues, and if we are unable to do so on acceptable terms, or at all, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our Concerts and Sponsorship & Advertising segments require access to venues to generate revenue from live music events. For these events, we use venues that we own, but we also operate a number of our live music venues under various agreements which include leases with third parties, ownership through an equity interest or booking agreements, which are agreements where we contract to book the events at a venue for a specific period of time. Our long-term success in the live music business will depend in part on the availability of venues, our ability to lease these venues and our ability to enter into booking agreements upon their expiration. As many of these agreements are with third parties over whom we have little or no control, we may be unable to renew these agreements or enter into new agreements on acceptable terms or at all, and may be unable to obtain favorable agreements with venues. Our ability to renew these agreements or obtain new agreements on favorable terms depends on a number of other factors, many of which are also beyond our control, such as national and local business conditions and competition from other promoters. If the cost of renewing these agreements is too high or the terms of any new agreement with a new venue are unacceptable or incompatible with our existing operations, we may decide to forego these opportunities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to renew these agreements on acceptable terms or at all, or that we will be able to obtain attractive agreements with substitute venues, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may continue to expand our operations through the development of live music venues and the expansion of existing live music venues, which poses a number of risks, including:

•construction of live music venues may result in cost overruns, delays or unanticipated expenses;

•desirable sites for live music venues may be unavailable or costly; and

•the attractiveness of our venue locations may deteriorate over time.

Growth or maintenance of our existing revenue depends in part on consistent investment in our venues. Therefore, we expect to continue to make substantial capital improvements to meet long-term increasing demand, improve value and grow revenue. We frequently have a number of significant capital projects underway. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, may influence the ultimate costs and timing of various capital improvements.

The amount of capital expenditures can vary significantly from year to year. In addition, actual costs could vary materially from our estimates if our assumptions about the quality of materials, equipment or workmanship required or the cost of financing such expenditures were to change. Construction is also subject to governmental permitting processes which, if changed, could materially affect the ultimate cost.

Table of Contents

Additionally, the market potential of live music venue sites cannot be precisely determined, and our live music venues may face competition in markets from unexpected sources. Newly constructed live music venues may not perform up to our expectations. We face significant competition for potential live music venue locations and for opportunities to acquire existing live music venues. Because of this competition, we may be unable to add to or maintain the number of our live music venues on terms we consider acceptable.

There is the risk of personal injuries and accidents in connection with our live music events, which could subject us to personal injury or other claims and increase our expenses, as well as reduce attendance at our live music events, causing a decrease in our revenue.

There are inherent risks involved with producing live music events. As a result, personal injuries and accidents have occurred, and may in the future occur, from time to time, which could subject us to claims and liabilities for personal injuries. Incidents in connection with our live music events at any of our venues or festival sites that we own or rent could also result in claims, reducing operating income or reducing attendance at our events, which could cause a decrease in our revenue. We have been subject to wrongful death claims and are currently subject to other litigation. In addition, while we have security protocols in place at our events, illegal drug use or alcohol consumption at our events could result in negative publicity, adverse consequences (including illness, injury or death) to the persons engaged in such activities or others, and litigation against us. While we maintain insurance policies that provide coverage within limits that are sufficient, in management’s judgment, to protect us from material financial loss for personal injuries sustained by persons at our venues or events or accidents in the ordinary course of business, there can be no assurance that such insurance will be adequate at all times and in all circumstances.

Poor weather adversely affects attendance at our live music events, which could negatively impact our financial performance from period to period.

We promote and/or ticket many live music events. Weather conditions surrounding these events affect sales of tickets, concessions and merchandise, among other things. Poor weather conditions can have a material effect on our results of operations particularly because we promote and/or ticket a finite number of events. Increased weather variability due to climate change exacerbates weather-related issues we face. Due to weather conditions, we may be required to cancel or reschedule an event to another available day or a different venue, which would increase our costs for the event and could negatively impact the attendance at the event, as well as concession and merchandise sales. Poor weather can affect current periods as well as successive events in future periods.

Risks Relating to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Intellectual Property

The success of our ticketing business and other operations depends, in part, on the integrity of our systems and infrastructure, as well as affiliate and third-party computer systems, computer networks and other communication systems. System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in these systems and infrastructure may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in the information systems and infrastructure, both of our own ticketing systems and other computer systems and of affiliate and third-party software, computer networks and other communications systems service providers on which we rely, may adversely affect our ability to operate websites, process and fulfill transactions, respond to customer inquiries and generally maintain cost-efficient operations. Such interruptions could occur by virtue of natural disaster, malicious actions such as hacking or acts of terrorism or war, or human error. In addition, the loss of some or all of certain key personnel could require us to expend additional resources to continue to maintain our software and systems and could subject us to systems interruptions. The large infrastructure plant that is required to operate our systems requires an ongoing investment of time, money and effort to maintain or refresh hardware and software and to ensure it remains at a level capable of servicing the demand and volume of business that Ticketmaster receives. Failure to do so may result in system instability, degradation in performance, or unfixable security vulnerabilities that could adversely impact both the business and the consumers utilizing our services.

While we have backup systems for certain aspects of our operations, disaster recovery planning by its nature cannot be sufficient for all eventualities. In addition, we may not have adequate insurance coverage to compensate for losses from a major interruption. If any of these adverse events were to occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Data loss or other breaches of our network security could materially harm our business and results of operations, and the processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information could give rise to liabilities and additional costs as a result of governmental regulation, litigation and conflicting legal requirements relating to personal privacy rights.

Table of Contents

Due to the nature of our business, we process, store, use, transfer and disclose certain personal or sensitive information about our customers and employees. Penetration of our network or other misappropriation or misuse of personal or sensitive information and data, including credit card information and other personally identifiable information, could cause interruptions in our operations and subject us to increased costs, litigation, inquiries and actions from governmental authorities, and financial or other liabilities. In addition, security breaches, incidents or the inability to protect information could lead to increased incidents of ticketing fraud and counterfeit tickets. Security breaches and incidents could also significantly damage our reputation with consumers, ticketing clients and other third parties, and could result in significant costs related to remediation efforts, such as credit or identity theft monitoring.

Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer and employee information and to prevent security breaches or incidents (which could result in data loss or other harm or loss), such measures cannot provide absolute security or certainty. It is possible that advances in computer and hacker capabilities, new variants of malware, the development of new penetration methods and tools, inadvertent violations of company policies or procedures or other developments could result in a compromise of customer or employee information or a breach of the technology and security processes that are used to protect customer and employee information. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems may change frequently and as a result, may be difficult for our business to detect for long periods of time. In addition, despite our best efforts, we may be unaware of or unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We have expended significant capital and other resources to protect against and remedy such potential security breaches, incidents and their consequences, including the establishment of a dedicated cybersecurity organization within our larger technology environment, and will continue to do so in the future.

We also face risks associated with security breaches and incidents affecting third parties with which we are affiliated or with which we otherwise conduct business. In particular, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture and/or may pose a security risk that could unexpectedly compromise information security. For example, in the second quarter of 2018, we became aware that a third-party customer support product, used in certain jurisdictions outside the U.S., was infected with a malicious code that may have allowed an unauthorized party to skim customers’ personal or payment information from their browsers. While we acted promptly to disable the infected third-party product, we continue to review our systems and interface with regulatory authorities as a result of this incident. These include proceedings contesting a proposed fine issued by the United Kingdom’s (“U.K.”) Information Commissioner’s Office in November 2020 against Ticketmaster U.K. Limited in connection with this incident. Consumers are generally concerned with the security and privacy of the internet, and any publicized security problems affecting our businesses and/or third parties may discourage consumers from doing business with us, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition to the above concerns related to network and data security, the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security and retention of personal or sensitive information and other user data are governed by existing and evolving federal, state and international laws. We have expended significant capital and other resources to keep abreast of the evolving privacy landscape, including the establishment of a dedicated global privacy organization within our legal team. However, our business could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in business practices or policies (including, for example, practices or policies regarding the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and retention of personal or sensitive information), or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement legislation or regulations in a manner which negatively affects our business, financial condition and/or results of operations. Due to the changes in the data privacy regulatory environment, we may incur additional costs and challenges to our business that restrict or limit our ability to collect, transfer, use, disclose, secure, or retain personal or sensitive information. These changes in data privacy laws may require us to modify our current or future products, services, programs, practices or policies, which may in turn impact the products and services available to our customers.

Regulators and government enforcement actions worldwide are imposing significant fines against companies for data privacy violations. Our business operations, including our ticketing business, involve the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and disposal of personal or sensitive information in various locations around the world, including the European Union (“E.U.”), where the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) governs data privacy and can result in the imposition of significant fines and penalties. In addition, following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the E.U. on December 31, 2020, we must separately comply with the U.K.’s data protection law, under which additional fines and penalties could be imposed independent of the GDPR. The relationship between U.K. data protection law and the GDPR remains unclear, including regarding how data transfers between the E.U. and U.K. will be treated. These changes could lead to additional compliance costs and could increase our overall risk.

As we expand our operations into new jurisdictions, the costs associated with compliance with applicable local data privacy laws and regulations increases. It is possible that government or industry regulation in these markets will require us to deviate from our standard processes and/or make changes to our products, services and operations, which will increase operational cost and risk.

Table of Contents

Our failure or the failure of the various third-party vendors and service providers with which we are affiliated or otherwise conduct business to comply with applicable federal, state or international laws and regulations and/or to comply with our privacy policies and/or or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized collection, transfer, use or disclosure of personal or sensitive information or other user data may result in negative publicity resulting in reputation or brand damage, may discourage potential users from purchasing tickets or trying our products and services, and may result in proceedings/fines by governmental agencies and/or private litigation brought by consumers; the realization of one or all of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing upon intellectual property rights of third parties.

We regard our intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and similar intellectual property (as applicable) as critical to our success. We also rely heavily upon software codes, informational databases and other components that make up our products and services.

We have been granted trademark registrations and patents and/or have trademark and patent applications pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and/or various foreign authorities for various proprietary trademarks, technologies and other inventions. Any patent or trademark application filed may not result in a patent or trademark registration being issued, or existing or future patents or trademarks may not be adjudicated valid by a court or be afforded adequate protection against competitors. Likewise, the issuance of a patent or trademark registration to us does not mean that its processes, inventions or trademark will not be found to infringe upon rights previously issued to third parties. We rely on a combination of laws and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others to establish and protect these proprietary rights. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization which, if discovered, might require legal action to correct. In addition, third parties may independently and lawfully develop substantially similar intellectual properties.

From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties. Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights in a meaningful manner or challenges to related contractual rights could result in erosion of brand names or other intellectual property and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Governmental Regulation and Litigation

We operate in international markets which subject us to risks associated with the legislative, judicial, accounting, regulatory, political and economic risks and conditions specific to such markets, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We provide services in various jurisdictions abroad through a number of brands and businesses that we own and operate, as well as through joint ventures, and we expect to continue to expand our international presence. We face, and expect to continue to face, additional risks in the case of our existing and future international operations, including:

•political instability, adverse changes in diplomatic relations and unfavorable economic and business conditions in the markets in which we currently have international operations or into which we may expand, particularly in the case of emerging markets;

•more restrictive or otherwise unfavorable government regulation of the live entertainment and ticketing industries, which could result in increased compliance costs and/or otherwise restrict the manner in which we provide services and the amount of related fees charged for such services;

•limitations on the enforcement of intellectual property rights;

•limitations on the ability of foreign subsidiaries to repatriate profits or otherwise remit earnings;

•adverse tax consequences due both to the complexity of operating across multiple tax regimes as well as changes in, or new interpretations of, international tax treaties and structures;

•expropriations of property and risks of renegotiation or modification of existing agreements with governmental authorities;

•diminished ability to legally enforce our contractual rights in foreign countries;

•limitations on technology infrastructure, which could limit our ability to migrate international operations to a common ticketing system;

•variability in venue security standards and accepted practices;

•lower levels of internet usage, credit card usage and consumer spending in comparison to those in the United States; and

Table of Contents

•difficulties in managing operations and adapting to consumer desires due to distance, language and cultural differences, including issues associated with (i) business practices and customs that are common in certain foreign countries but might be prohibited by United States law and our internal policies and procedures, and (ii) management and operational systems and infrastructures, including internal financial control and reporting systems and functions, staffing and managing of foreign operations, which we might not be able to do effectively or cost-efficiently.

As we expand into new markets these risks will be intensified and will have the potential to impact a greater percentage of our business and operating results. Our ability to expand our international operations into new jurisdictions, or further into existing jurisdictions will depend, in significant part, on our ability to identify potential acquisition candidates, joint venture or other partners, and enter into arrangements with these parties on favorable terms, as well as our ability to make continued investments to maintain and grow existing international operations. If the revenue generated by international operations is insufficient to offset expenses incurred in connection with the maintenance and growth of these operations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, in an effort to make international operations in one or more given jurisdictions profitable over the long term, significant additional investments that are not profitable over the short term could be required over a prolonged period.

In foreign countries in which we operate, a risk exists that our employees, contractors or agents could, in contravention of our policies, engage in business practices prohibited by applicable United States laws and regulations, such as the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as the laws and regulations of other countries prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials such as the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. We maintain policies prohibiting such business practices and have in place global anti-corruption compliance and training programs designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations. Nevertheless, the risk remains that one or more of our employees, contractors or agents, including those based in or from countries where practices that violate such United States laws and regulations or the laws and regulations of other countries may be customary, as well as those associated with newly-acquired businesses, will engage in business practices that are prohibited by our policies, circumvent our compliance programs and, by doing so, violate such laws and regulations. Any such violations, even if prohibited by our internal policies, could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us and/or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, given our substantial operations in the U.K. and the E.U., we face risks and uncertainties due to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. The U.K. has agreed “third country” trading status in a new E.U.-U.K. Trade and Cooperation Agreement applicable from January 1, 2021. The trade agreement sets out arrangements in areas such as tariff-free trade in goods. However, it does not match the level of economic integration that existed while the U.K. was an E.U. Member State. There will be additional bureaucracy and cost with customs formalities, VAT, excise duties and ATA carnets for goods moved between the U.K. and the E.U.

These risks and uncertainties include some regulatory uncertainty for data protection. It has been confirmed that the U.K. ICO will not be able to act as the single authority for E.U. multinationals; this means that E.U. multinationals will often have two regulators; one for U.K. activities and one for the rest of the E.U.27 where cross-border processing takes place. Live Nation is currently re-assessing its lead authority based on its cross-border processing, so it continues to have a main point of contact for the E.U. In addition, the U.K. is now not part of the E.U. for purposes of data transfers. The GDPR principle that data cannot leave the E.U. (to the U.K. in this case) now applies. While a four to six month grace period is currently in effect, following this, there are two possible scenarios: (1) the U.K. is granted adequacy by the E.U., allowing data to continue to flow to the U.K. or (2) adequacy is not granted, in which case additional safeguards, such as contractual commitments would need to be implemented for E.U.-U.K. transfers. Live Nation has already documented data flows to identified where U.K. flows occur and have contractual templates prepared should scenario two materialize.

Live Nation as a tour sponsor will continue to use Tier 5 routes into the U.K. now including E.U. and E.E.A. musicians and crew on the sponsor’s license. For tours in Europe, U.K. musicians’ working arrangements will be subject to individual E.U. member states and bilateral agreements reached with the U.K. Government. In many member states the working arrangements will be the same or similar, such as in France and Germany. In others, there may be new requirements for the sponsor. As a significant sponsor with a long-established footprint across the E.U. and E.E.A. markets, Live Nation remains in a strong position when European markets reopen from coronavirus restrictions.

Table of Contents

We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, and our failure to comply with these regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations are subject to federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations, policies and procedures, both domestically and internationally, which are subject to change at any time, governing matters such as:

•privacy laws and protection of personal or sensitive information, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information;

•compliance with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our international operations;

•primary ticketing and ticket resale services;

•construction, renovation and operation of our venues;

•licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances;

•human health, safety and sanitation requirements;

•the service of food and alcoholic beverages;

•working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws;

•compliance with the ADA and the DDA;

•hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws;

•sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes;

•marketing activities via the telephone and online; and

•historic landmark rules.

Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in proceedings/fines against us by governmental agencies and private actions brought by consumers, which if material, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we attempt to conduct our business and operations in a manner that we believe to be in compliance with such laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that a law or regulation will not be interpreted or enforced in a manner contrary to our current understanding of the law or regulation. In addition, the promulgation of new laws, rules and regulations could restrict or unfavorably impact our business, which could decrease demand for services, reduce revenue, increase costs and/or subject us to additional liabilities. 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. New legislation could be passed that may negatively impact our business, such as provisions that have recently been proposed in various jurisdictions that would restrict ticketing methods. Additionally, governmental actions such as the current sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and European regulators on certain Russian individuals and entities, as well as other sanctions elsewhere in the world, could restrict or limit our business activities in certain areas or subject us to sanction for noncompliance, even if inadvertent.

From time to time, federal, state and local authorities and/or consumers commence investigations, inquiries or litigation with respect to our compliance with applicable consumer protection, advertising, unfair business practice, antitrust (and similar or related laws) and other laws. Our businesses have historically cooperated with authorities in connection with these investigations and have satisfactorily resolved each such material investigation, inquiry or litigation. We are currently subject to agreements with the States of New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois and the FTC which govern, and in certain cases place limitations on, our ticketing resale practices. Our competitors in the secondary ticket sales market are not, to our knowledge, bound by such limitations (other than as a result of laws that apply equally to all secondary ticket sellers) and as a result, we may be at a competitive disadvantage. From time to time, other states, Canadian provinces and the federal government have commenced investigations or inquiries related to other aspects of our ticketing business, including a now-settled suit brought by the Canadian Competition Bureau relating to alleged deceptive marketing practices. In addition, we recently agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend the duration of the consent decree we entered into in connection with our merger with Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restraints on our business (see the risk factor entitled “We recently agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business” below). We have incurred legal expenses in connection with the defense of governmental investigations and litigation in the past and may be required to incur additional expenses in the future regarding such investigations and litigation. In the case of antitrust (and similar or related) matters, any adverse outcome could limit or prevent us from engaging in the ticketing business generally (or in a particular segment thereof) or subject us to potential damage assessments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Table of Contents

Unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings may adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our results may be affected by the outcome of pending and future litigation. Unfavorable rulings in our legal proceedings may have a negative impact on us that may be greater or smaller depending on the nature of the rulings. In addition, we are currently, and from time to time in the future may be, subject to various other claims, investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings (whether civil or criminal) or lawsuits by governmental agencies or private parties, as further described in the immediately preceding risk factor. If the results of these investigations, proceedings or suits are unfavorable to us or if we are unable to successfully defend against third-party lawsuits, we may be required to pay monetary damages or may be subject to fines, penalties, injunctions or other censure that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we adequately address the issues raised by an investigation or proceeding or successfully defend a third-party lawsuit or counterclaim, we may have to devote significant financial and management resources to address these issues, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In January 2020, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business.

In connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC in 2010, we became subject, through July 2020, to a court-imposed final judgment (the “Final Judgment”) that places certain restrictions and obligations on us in order to address the issues the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) raised in its antitrust review of the merger. Pursuant to the Final Judgment, we agreed to abide by certain behavioral remedies and to provide periodic reports to the DOJ about our compliance with the Final Judgment. The Final Judgment was due to expire in July 2020; in December 2019, we reached an agreement with the DOJ to clarify certain aspects of the Final Judgment and extend its duration through the end of 2025 (the “Amended Final Judgment”).

Under the Amended Final Judgment we may not (i) threaten to condition (or actually condition) the provision of Live Nation concerts on a venue choosing Ticketmaster, or (ii) retaliate (i.e., withhold any Live Nation concerts) in response to a venue choosing a ticketing services provider other than Ticketmaster. In addition, pursuant to the Amended Final Judgment, (i) an independent monitor has been appointed to monitor and report to the DOJ on our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment, and investigate any potential violations thereof, (ii) we appointed an internal antitrust compliance officer and have conducted (and will continue to annually conduct) internal trainings to ensure our employees fully comply with the Amended Final Judgment; (iii) we provided, and will continue to provide, notice to current or potential venue customers of the Amended Final Judgment and its restrictions on our business conduct; and (iv) we are subject to an automatic penalty of $1,000,000 for each violation. We agreed to pay costs and fees for the independent monitor and the DOJ’s past investigation and enforcement.

During the duration of the Amended Final Judgment, we are restricted from engaging in certain business activities that, absent the Final Judgment, would be lawful for us to undertake. Our inability to undertake these business strategies could disadvantage us when we compete against firms that are not restricted by any such order. In addition, our business will be under continued and enhanced scrutiny by the DOJ, including by the independent monitor. Our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment therefore creates certain unquantifiable business risks for us.

In connection with the merger we also entered into a consent agreement with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition (the “Canadian Consent Agreement”), which had the effect of imposing essentially the same terms as the Final Judgment on our business in Canada. The various terms of the Canadian Consent Agreement expired on or before July 2020.

Risks Relating to Our Leverage

We have a large amount of debt and lease obligations that could restrict our operations and impair our financial condition. The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness impose restrictions on us that limit the discretion of management in operating our business and that, in turn, could impair our ability to meet our obligations under our debt.

The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness include restrictive covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to:

•incur additional debt;

•pay dividends and make distributions;

•make certain investments;

•repurchase our stock and prepay certain indebtedness;

•create liens;

•enter into transactions with affiliates;

•modify the nature of our business;

•enter into sale-leaseback transactions;

•transfer and sell material assets; and

Table of Contents

•merge or consolidate.

In addition, our senior secured credit facility includes other restrictions, including requirements to maintain certain financial ratios. Our failure to comply with the terms and covenants of our indebtedness could lead to a default under the terms of the governing documents, which would entitle the lenders to accelerate the indebtedness and declare all amounts owed due and payable.

As of December 31, 2020, our total indebtedness, excluding unamortized debt discounts and debt issuance costs of $129.8 million, was $5.0 billion. Our available borrowing capacity under the revolving portion of our senior secured credit facility at that date was $961.7 million, with outstanding letters of credit of $68.3 million. We may also incur significant additional indebtedness in the future.

Our substantial indebtedness could have adverse consequences, including:

•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations;

•increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, regulatory and industry conditions;

•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other purposes;

•requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to fund payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for operations and other purposes;

•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate;

•making us more vulnerable to increases in interest rates; and

•placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt.

To service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures, we will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control.

As of December 31, 2020, $53.4 million of our total indebtedness (excluding interest and unamortized debt discount and debt issuance costs) is due in 2021, $612.5 million is due in the aggregate in 2022 and 2023, $1.0 billion is due in the aggregate in 2024 and 2025 and $3.3 billion is due thereafter. In addition, as of December 31, 2020, we had $2.4 billion in operating lease liabilities, of which $192.4 million is due in 2021 and $196.0 million is due in 2022. All long-term debt without a stated maturity date is considered current and is reflected here as due in 2021. See the table in Item 7.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Commitments—Firm Commitments.

Our ability to service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt will also depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. This is, to an extent, subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.

We cannot provide assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our debt or to fund our other liquidity needs. If our future cash flow from operations and other capital resources is insufficient to pay our obligations as they mature or to fund our liquidity needs, we may be forced to reduce or delay our business activities and capital expenditures, sell assets, obtain additional equity capital or restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt on or before maturity. In addition, the terms of our existing debt, including our senior secured credit facility, and other future debt may limit our ability to pursue any of these alternatives.

These measures might also be unsuccessful or inadequate in permitting us to meet scheduled debt service or lease obligations. We may be unable to restructure or refinance our obligations and obtain additional debt or equity financing or sell assets on satisfactory terms or at all. Capital markets have been volatile in the recent past; a downturn could negatively impact our ability to access capital should the need arise. As a result, the inability to meet our debt or lease obligations could cause us to default on those obligations. Any such defaults could materially harm our financial condition and liquidity.

Table of Contents

We depend on the cash flows of our subsidiaries in order to satisfy our obligations.

We rely on distributions and loans from our subsidiaries to meet our payment requirements under our obligations. If our subsidiaries are unable to pay dividends or otherwise make payments to us, we may not be able to make debt service payments on our obligations. We conduct substantially all of our operations through our subsidiaries. Our operating cash flows and consequently our ability to service our debt is therefore principally dependent upon our subsidiaries’ earnings and their distributions of those earnings to us and may also be dependent upon loans or other payments of funds to us by those subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate legal entities and may have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amount due pursuant to our obligations or to make any funds available for that purpose. Our foreign subsidiaries generate a portion of our operating cash flows. Although we do not intend to repatriate these funds from our foreign subsidiaries in order to satisfy payment requirements in the United States, we would be required to accrue and pay United States state income taxes as well as any applicable foreign withholding or transaction taxes on future repatriations. These taxes could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the ability of our subsidiaries to provide funds to us may be subject to restrictions under our senior secured credit facility and may be subject to the terms of such subsidiaries’ future indebtedness, as well as the availability of sufficient surplus funds under applicable law.

General Risks Relating to our Business and Operations

We may be adversely affected by the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks or disease epidemics.

The occurrence and threat of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, intentional or unintentional mass-casualty incidents, public health concerns such as contagious disease outbreaks, natural disasters or similar events, may deter artists from touring and/or substantially decrease the use of and demand for our services and the attendance at live music events, which may decrease our revenue or expose us to substantial liability. The terrorism and security incidents in the past, military actions in foreign locations, periodic elevated terrorism alerts and fears from publicized contagious disease outbreaks have raised numerous challenging operating factors, including public concerns regarding air travel, military actions and additional national or local catastrophic incidents, causing a nationwide disruption of commercial and leisure activities.

In the event of actual or threatened terrorism events, some artists may refuse to travel or book tours, which could adversely affect our business. Attendance at events may decline due to fears over terrorism and contagious disease outbreaks, which could adversely impact our operating results. There have been terrorist attacks at events that we have promoted or with which we have otherwise been involved, which have resulted in lawsuits questioning, among other things, the adequacy of the security precautions at these events. While we are constantly evaluating the security precautions for our events in an effort to ensure the safety of the public, no security measures can guarantee safety and there can be no assurances that we won’t face liabilities, which could be substantial and materially impact our operating results, in connection with such terrorist attacks at our events. In addition, we hold a large number of events at third-party venues that we do not own or operate. While we do not have direct control over the security at such venues, there can be no guarantees that victims of a terrorism or casualty event at such venues will not seek to impose, or ultimately be successful in imposing, liability on us.

While we have health and safety programs designed to mitigate the risks that are inherent in the staging of concerts and other events, as well as those associated with extraordinary occurrences or actions that may take place at our events, there can be no assurances that these programs will be sufficient to fully cover every possibility. Despite our best efforts, some occurrences or actions are difficult to foresee and adequately plan for, which could lead to fan, vendor and/or employee harm resulting in fines, penalties, legal costs and reputational risk that could materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Exchange rates may cause fluctuations in our results of operations that are not related to our operations.

Because we own assets overseas and derive revenue from our international operations, we may incur currency translation losses or gains due to changes in the values of foreign currencies relative to the United States Dollar. We cannot predict the effect of exchange rate fluctuations upon future operating results. For the year ended December 31, 2020, our international operations accounted for approximately 36% of our revenue. We cannot predict the future relationship between the United States Dollar and the currencies used by our international businesses, principally the British Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar and Canadian Dollar. We experienced foreign exchange rate operating income of $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and foreign exchange operating losses of $9.8 million and $1.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, which impacted our operating income (loss). See Item 7A.—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Table of Contents

We may enter into future acquisitions and take certain actions in connection with such transactions, including actions taken to comply with antitrust, competition and other regulations, that could affect our business and results of operations; if we are unsuccessful in our future acquisition endeavors, our business could be adversely impacted.

Our future growth rate depends in part on our selective acquisition of additional businesses. A portion of our growth has been attributable to acquisitions. We may be unable to identify other suitable targets for further acquisition or make further acquisitions at favorable prices. If we identify a suitable acquisition candidate, our ability to successfully complete the acquisition would depend on a variety of factors, and may include our ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms and requisite government approvals. In addition, the credit agreement for our senior secured credit facility restricts our ability to make certain acquisitions. In connection with future acquisitions, we could take certain actions that could adversely affect our business, including:

•using a significant portion of our available cash;

•issuing equity securities, which would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership;

•incurring substantial debt;

•incurring or assuming contingent liabilities, known or unknown;

•incurring amortization expenses related to intangibles; and

•incurring large accounting write-offs or impairments.

In addition, acquisitions involve inherent risks which, if realized, could adversely affect our business and results of operations, including those associated with:

•integrating the operations, financial reporting, technologies and personnel of acquired companies, including establishing and maintaining a system of internal controls appropriate for a public company environment;

•managing geographically dispersed operations;

•the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;

•the inherent risks in entering markets or lines of business in which we have either limited or no direct experience;

•the potential loss of key employees, customers and strategic partners of acquired companies; and

•the impact of laws and regulations relating to antitrust at the state, federal and international levels, which could significantly affect our ability to complete acquisitions and expand our business.

Our operations are seasonal and our results of operations vary from quarter to quarter and year over year, so our financial performance in certain financial quarters or years may not be indicative of, or comparable to, our financial performance in subsequent financial quarters or years.

We believe our financial results and cash needs will vary greatly from quarter to quarter and year to year depending on, among other things, the timing of tours, tour cancellations, event ticket on-sales, capital expenditures, seasonal and other fluctuations in our operating results, the timing of guaranteed payments and receipt of ticket sales and fees, financing activities, acquisitions and investments and receivables management. Because our results may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year, our financial results for one quarter or year cannot necessarily be compared to another quarter or year and may not be indicative of our future financial performance in subsequent quarters or years. Typically, we experience our lowest financial performance in the first and fourth quarters of the calendar year as our outdoor venues are primarily used, and our festivals primarily occur, during May through October. In addition, the timing of tours of top grossing acts can impact comparability of quarterly results year over year and potentially annual results. The timing of event on-sales by our ticketing clients can also impact this comparability. In addition, the seasonality of our businesses could create cash flow management risks if we do not adequately anticipate and plan for periods of decreased activity, which could negatively impact our ability to execute on our strategy, which in turn could harm our results of operations. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally in mid-March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we did not experience our typical seasonality trends in 2020.

The following table sets forth our operating income (loss) for the last eight fiscal quarters (in thousands):


	2020		2019
March 31	$	(172,670)	$	(23,863)
June 30	(588,067)		171,586
September 30	(504,441)		260,041
December 31	(388,014)		(82,920)

Table of Contents

Costs associated with, and our ability to obtain, adequate insurance could adversely affect our profitability and financial condition.

We currently secure insurance programs to address our various risks with terms, conditions and costs that are appropriate for our business. However, heightened concerns and challenges regarding property, casualty, business interruption, contingency and other insurance coverage have resulted from terrorist and related security incidents along with varying weather-related conditions, pandemics and other incidents. Any such events that are of a massive scale causing significant losses to insurance providers could negatively impact the insurance marketplace, and as a result, we may experience increased difficulty obtaining sufficiently high policy limits of coverage at a cost we believe to be reasonable, including coverage for acts of terrorism, cyber attacks, weather-related damage and disruptions and other perils associated with our operations, including communicable diseases and/or pandemics. We have experienced a significant increase in our cost to obtain appropriate insurance over the past several years, though it is difficult to gauge the portion of this increase that is due to conditions in the insurance marketplace generally versus that attributable to our claims history for the mass casualty, cybersecurity, the global COVID-19 pandemic and other incidents we have faced. We have a material investment in property and equipment at each of our venues, which are generally located near major cities and which hold events typically attended by a large number of fans. We also have a significant investment in technology, including our ticketing systems. At December 31, 2020, we had property and equipment with a net book value of $1.1 billion. We cannot guarantee that future increases in insurance costs and difficulties obtaining high policy limits will not adversely impact our profitability, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.

We cannot provide assurance that our insurance policy coverage limits, including insurance coverage for property, casualty, artists, business interruption losses, cyber attacks and acts of terrorism, would be adequate under the circumstances should one or multiple events occur at or near any of our business locations, or that our insurers would have adequate financial resources to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages. We cannot guarantee that adequate coverage limits will be available, offered at a reasonable cost, or offered by insurers with sufficient financial soundness. The occurrence of such an incident or incidents affecting any one or more of our business facilities could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and future results of operations if asset damage and/or company liability were to exceed insurance coverage limits or if an insurer were unable to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages.

We depend upon unionized labor for the provision of some of our services and any work stoppages or labor disturbances could disrupt our business; potential union pension obligations could cause us to incur unplanned liabilities.

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 ordinary course of our business. Upon the expiration of any of our collective bargaining agreements, however, we may be unable to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements on terms favorable to us, and our business operations 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, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage would have on our business.

We participate in, and make recurrent contributions to, various multiemployer pension plans that cover many of our current and former union employees. Our required recurrent contributions to these plans could unexpectedly increase during the term of a collective bargaining agreement due to ERISA laws that require additional contributions to be made when a pension fund enters into critical status, which may occur for reasons that are beyond our control. In addition, we may be required by law to fulfill our pension withdrawal liability with respect to any multiemployer pension plans from which we may withdraw or partially withdraw. Our potential withdrawal liability will increase if a multiemployer pension plan in which we participate has significant underfunded liabilities. Any unplanned or greater than expected multiemployer pension liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

Table of Contents

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

As of December 31, 2020, we own, operate or lease 155 entertainment venues throughout North America and 76 entertainment venues internationally. We have a lease ending June 30, 2030 for our corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, used primarily by our executive group and certain of our domestic operations management staff. We also lease office space and other facilities in 41 countries that support our Concerts, Ticketing and Sponsorship & Advertising segment operations. 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.

Our leases are for varying terms ranging from monthly to multi-year. These leases can typically be for terms of three to 10 years for our office leases and five to 25 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.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

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

Table of Contents

PART II—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LYV” beginning on December 21, 2005. There were 3,155 stockholders of record as of February 22, 2021. 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.

Purchase of Equity Securities

The following table provides information regarding repurchases of our common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2020.


Period	Total 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)
October 2020	1,313	$54.94
November 2020	38,106	$48.80
December 2020	30,541	$72.72
	69,960

_________


(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, and in respect of the exercise price and withholding taxes for net stock option exercises where no resulting shares were sold, 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.

Dividend Policy

Information regarding our dividend policy can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 11—Equity.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

Information is within Part II—Financial Information—Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data and should be read in conjunction with Item 7.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Table of Contents

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 consolidated 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 Item 1A.—Risk Factors and other sections in this Annual Report.

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations generally discusses 2020 and 2019 items along with year-over-year comparisons between these two years. Discussion of 2018 items and year-over-year comparisons between 2019 and 2018 can be found in Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Executive Overview

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we ceased all Live Nation tours and closed all our venues beginning in mid-March 2020 to support global efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus. To ensure the safety of our artists, fans, and employees, we held very few traditional events in the year and had minimal ticket sales.

As a result, our overall revenue for 2020 decreased by 84%, from $11.5 billion in 2019 to $1.9 billion in 2020. The revenue reduction was largely in our Concerts and Ticketing segments as a result of almost no shows occurring from mid-March through the end of the year and ticket sales for future shows sharply reduced given the uncertainty around when live events will return. Our Ticketing revenue was also impacted by refunds for cancelled and postponed events. The pandemic led to an operating loss for 2020 of $1.7 billion compared to operating income of $325 million for 2019. The impact of foreign exchange rates to both our revenue and operating income were minimal. While the unparalleled disruption of the pandemic has had a material impact on our business, as the leading global live event and ticketing company, we still firmly believe that we are well-positioned to provide the best service to artists, teams, fans and venues once business resumes. Twenty years of global growth demonstrates the resilience of fan demand for the live entertainment experience. Recent fan surveys indicate that the demand will be there when the shows return, with 95% of fans expecting to attend concerts again once government and/or health officials determine events can resume. We are actively taking steps to ensure that when the time is right for us to do so, we will be ready to quickly ramp back up and once again connect audiences to artists at the concerts they cherish.

Our Concerts segment revenue for 2020 was $1.5 billion, compared to $9.4 billion for 2019, a reduction of 84%. The unfavorable results were almost entirely due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 8,117 events we held this year, about 7,100 of those were in the first quarter of 2020, prior to our shutdown. Overall, our show count went from 40,237 in 2019 down to 8,117 in 2020, a reduction of 80%. In addition to normal show activity from January through mid-March, we were able to hold drive-in concert events as well as socially distanced shows in some markets during the pandemic. Towards the end of the year, we saw a return to almost normal levels of activity in New Zealand which held our Rhythm and Vines festival in December with record levels of attendance. Coinciding with the trend on show count, our total fan count for the year went from 97.7 million in 2019 down to 11.1 million in 2020, a reduction of 89%. Concerts had an operating loss for the year largely due to lost business resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic and from sunk costs, such as advertising expenses, associated with shows cancelled or rescheduled to 2021.

Our Ticketing segment revenue for 2020 was $188 million, compared to $1.5 billion for 2019, a reduction of 88% driven by a lack of ticket sales for future events and refunds on 2020 shows that were cancelled or rescheduled. Before refunds, our fee-bearing tickets sold for the year were 58.5 million, which compares to 219.8 million for 2019, a reduction of 73%. A total of 27.4 million tickets were refunded in the year, equating to just slightly over $2.6 billion of gross transaction value. The decline in operating results for the year was largely driven by the lack of ticket sales as well as refunds processed for cancelled and rescheduled events.

Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment revenue for 2020 was $204 million, compared to $590 million for 2019, a reduction of 65%. After a very strong performance for the first 10 weeks of the year, there was a significant reduction to Sponsorship & Advertising revenue and operating results due to the lack of shows and online activity resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Table of Contents

We continue to be focused on mitigating the financial impact of the shutdown. We have undertaken cost-savings initiatives across the organization, including salary reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs, termination of certain employees, as well as eliminating costs for consultants, travel and entertainment and repairs and maintenance for our facilities. We are also protecting our liquidity by tightly managing cash outflows associated with all our major expenditures: operating expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, and advances in both our ticketing and concert businesses. The length and severity of the impact to live events and our related sponsorship and ticketing businesses is still uncertain. The magnitude and pace of the recovery will depend on each market and their containment efforts, the nature of the events being held, ongoing efforts to develop rapid testing technologies and rollout of approved vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. We remain optimistic about the long-term potential of our company and the unique power of live shows to unite people. We believe our aggressive cost-savings and cash management programs, combined with a strong liquidity profile, position Live Nation to manage through the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on live events and provides us the flexibility to scale up quickly when our shows resume.

Segment Overview

Concerts

Revenue and related costs for events are generally deferred and recognized when the event occurs. All advertising costs incurred during the year for shows in future years are expensed at the end of the year. If a current year event is rescheduled into a future year, all advertising costs incurred to date are expensed in the period when the event is rescheduled.

Concerts direct operating expenses include artist fees, event production costs, show-related marketing and advertising expenses, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Concerts segment, we primarily monitor the number of confirmed events and fan attendance in our network of owned or operated and third-party venues, talent fees, average paid attendance, market ticket pricing, advance ticket sales and the number of major artist clients under management. In addition, at our owned or operated venues and festivals, we monitor ancillary revenue per fan and premium ticket sales. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

Ticketing

Revenue related to ticketing service charges is recognized when the ticket is sold for our third-party clients. For our own events, where our concert promoters control ticketing, revenue is deferred and recognized when the event occurs. Gross transaction value (“GTV”) represents the total amount of the transaction related to a ticket sale and includes the face value of the ticket as well as the service charge. We use GTV to evaluate changes in ticket fee revenue that are driven by the pricing of our service charges.

Ticketing direct operating expenses include call center costs and credit card fees, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Ticketing segment, we primarily review the GTV and the number of tickets sold through our ticketing operations, the number of clients renewed or added and the average royalty rate paid to clients who use our ticketing services. In addition, we review the number of visits to our websites, cost of customer acquisition, the purchase conversion rate, the overall number of customers in our database, the number and percentage of tickets sold via mobile and the number of app installs. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

Sponsorship & Advertising

Revenue related to sponsorship and advertising programs is recognized over the term of the agreement or operating season as the benefits are provided to the sponsor unless the revenue is associated with a specific event, in which case it is recognized when the event occurs.

Sponsorship & Advertising direct operating expenses include fulfillment costs related to our sponsorship programs, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Sponsorship & Advertising segment, we primarily review the revenue generated through sponsorship arrangements and online advertising, and the percentage of expected revenue under contract. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

Table of Contents

Key Operating Metrics


	Year Ended December 31,
		2020	2019	2018
		(in thousands except estimated events)
Concerts (1)
Estimated events:
North America		5,270	28,407	24,186
International		2,847	11,830	10,810
Total estimated events		8,117	40,237	34,996
Estimated fans:
North America		6,075	62,687	61,159
International		5,067	34,967	31,607
Total estimated fans		11,142	97,654	92,766



Ticketing (2)
Estimated number of fee-bearing tickets sold		31,101	219,838	217,442
Estimated number of non-fee-bearing tickets sold		88,823	266,750	265,033
Total estimated tickets sold		119,924	486,588	482,475

_________

(1)Events generally represent a single performance by an artist. Fans generally represent the number of people who attend an event. Festivals are counted as one event in the quarter in which the festival begins, but the number of fans is based on the days the fans were present at the festival and thus can be reported across multiple quarters. Events and fan attendance metrics are estimated each quarter.

(2)The fee-bearing tickets estimated above include primary and secondary tickets that are sold using our Ticketmaster systems or that we issue through affiliates. This metric includes primary tickets sold during the year regardless of event timing, except for our own events where our concert promoters control ticketing which are reported when the events occur. The non-fee-bearing tickets estimated above include primary tickets sold using our Ticketmaster systems, through season seat packages and our venue clients’ box offices, along with tickets sold on our “do it yourself” platform. These ticketing metrics are net of any refunds requested and any cancellations that occurred during the period and up to the time of reporting of these consolidated financial statements. Fee-bearing tickets sold above are net of refunds of 27.4 million tickets for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Table of Contents

Non-GAAP Measures

The following table sets forth the reconciliation of AOI to operating income (loss):


	Operating income (loss)		Stock- based compensation expense		Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets		Depreciation and amortization		Amortization of non-recoupable ticketing contract advances		Acquisition expenses		AOI
					(in thousands)
2020
Concerts	$	(958,975)	$	68,805	$	505	$	266,255	$	—	$	(15,436)	$	(638,846)
Ticketing	(612,002)		13,395		(1)		169,921		54,692		(568)		(374,563)
Sponsorship & Advertising	44,873		6,420		—		30,617		—		—		81,910
Other and Eliminations	(13,440)		—		(1)		6,684		(6,721)		—		(13,478)
Corporate	(113,648)		28,269		—		11,548		—		2,916		(70,915)
Total	$	(1,653,192)	$	116,889	$	503	$	485,025	$	47,971	$	(13,088)	$	(1,015,892)
2019
Concerts	$	(53,463)	$	12,935	$	(2,490)	$	239,682	$	—	$	45,659	$	242,323
Ticketing	231,958		6,268		116		156,894		85,844		1,276		482,356
Sponsorship & Advertising	330,270		2,744		—		33,084		—		—		366,098
Other and Eliminations	(1,114)		—		—		364		(5,542)		—		(6,292)
Corporate	(182,807)		26,838		1		13,967		—		26		(141,975)
Total	$	324,844	$	48,785	$	(2,373)	$	443,991	$	80,302	$	46,961	$	942,510
2018
Concerts	$	(36,205)	$	12,203	$	10,361	$	206,772	$	—	$	32,851	$	225,982
Ticketing	201,914		4,753		7		143,551		85,110		1,177		436,512
Sponsorship & Advertising	283,153		1,665		2		30,779		—		—		315,599
Other and Eliminations	(18,311)		—		—		817		(5,023)		—		(22,517)
Corporate	(158,015)		26,961		(1)		4,610		—		13		(126,432)
Total	$	272,536	$	45,582	$	10,369	$	386,529	$	80,087	$	34,041	$	829,144

Adjusted Operating Income (Loss)

AOI is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as operating income (loss) before certain stock-based compensation expense, loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets, depreciation and amortization (including goodwill impairment), amortization of non-recoupable ticketing contract advances and acquisition expenses (including transaction costs, changes in the fair value of accrued acquisition-related contingent consideration obligations, and acquisition-related severance and compensation). We use AOI to evaluate the performance of our operating segments. We believe that information about AOI assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our portfolio of businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. AOI is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of AOI as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business. Accordingly, AOI should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, AOI as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Table of Contents

AOI Margin

AOI margin is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate by dividing AOI by revenue. We use AOI margin to evaluate the performance of our operating segments. We believe that information about AOI margin assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our portfolio of businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. AOI margin is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of AOI margin as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business. Accordingly, AOI margin should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss) margin, and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, AOI margin as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Constant Currency

Constant currency is a non-GAAP financial measure. We calculate currency impacts as the difference between current period activity translated using the current period’s currency exchange rates and the comparable prior period’s currency exchange rates. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations.

Table of Contents

Segment Operating Results

Concerts

Our Concerts segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,							% Change 2020 vs 2019				% Change 2019 vs 2018
		2020			2019						2018
	(in thousands)
Revenue		$	1,468,433		$	9,428,094		$	8,770,031			(84)%	8%
Direct operating expenses		1,222,997			7,857,437			7,340,757				(84)%	7%
Selling, general and administrative expenses		937,651			1,386,928			1,248,346				(32)%	11%
Depreciation and amortization		266,255			239,682			196,272				11%	22%
Goodwill impairment		—			—			10,500				*	*
Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets		505			(2,490)			10,361				*	*

Operating loss		$	(958,975)		$	(53,463)		$	(36,205)			*	(48)%
Operating margin		(65.3)		%	(0.6)		%	(0.4)		%
AOI **		$	(638,846)		$	242,323		$	225,982			*	7%
AOI margin **		(43.5)		%	2.6		%	2.6		%

_________________________


*			Percentages are not meaningful.
**			See “—Non-GAAP Measures” above for the definition and reconciliation of AOI and AOI margin.

Revenue

Concerts revenue decreased $8.0 billion during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior year primarily due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally during 2020. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in mid-March 2020 we ceased all of our tours, closed our venues and cancelled or postponed our festivals to support global efforts at social distancing and mitigating the virus, and to comply with restrictions put in place by various governmental entities. Concerts had incremental revenue of $134.0 million during 2020 from acquisitions, primarily that of a merchandise business.

Operating results

The decrease in Concerts operating results for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by the reduction in revenue caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic discussed above partially offset by cost reduction measures implemented during 2020, which have included salary reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending along with participating in government support programs globally. Depreciation and amortization during 2020 includes $23.2 million in impairment charges associated with revenue-generating contracts, venue management and leaseholds and client/vendor relationships intangible assets due to the impacts from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Depreciation and amortization in 2019 includes $21.2 million in impairment charges primarily associated with revenue-generating contract intangible assets. Concerts operating results for the year ended December 31, 2020 include net operating losses of $59.2 million related to acquisitions and new venues.

Table of Contents

Ticketing

Our Ticketing segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,						% Change 2020 vs 2019				% Change 2019 vs 2018
		2020		2019						2018

	(in thousands)
Revenue		$	188,383	$	1,545,189		$	1,529,566			(88)%	1%
Direct operating expenses		129,433		514,169			549,265				(75)%	(6)%
Selling, general and administrative expenses		501,032		642,052			634,829				(22)%	1%
Depreciation and amortization		169,921		156,894			143,551				8%	9%
Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets		(1)		116			7				*	*

Operating income (loss)		$	(612,002)	$	231,958		$	201,914			*	15%
Operating margin		*		15.0		%	13.2		%
AOI **		$	(374,563)	$	482,356		$	436,512			*	11%
AOI margin **		*		31.2		%	28.5		%

__________________________


*			Percentages are not meaningful.
**			See “—Non-GAAP Measures” above for the definition and reconciliation of AOI and AOI margin.

Revenue

Ticketing revenue decreased $1.4 billion during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior year primarily due to the lack of tickets available for sale to the public driven by the unprecedented stoppage of concerts, sports and other events globally during 2020 and refunds for cancelled or rescheduled events for third-party clients due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating results

The decrease in Ticketing operating results for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by the reduction in revenue caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic discussed above, without a proportionate reduction in direct operating expenses as credit card fees and other costs associated with processing refunds and responding to fan and ticketing client inquiries continued. This decrease was partially offset by cost reduction measures implemented during 2020, including salary reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending along with participating in government support programs globally.

Table of Contents

Sponsorship & Advertising

Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,							% Change 2020 vs 2019				% Change 2019 vs 2018
		2020			2019						2018
	(in thousands)
Revenue		$	203,676		$	590,274		$	503,968			(65)%	17%
Direct operating expenses		52,517			114,326			92,494				(54)%	24%
Selling, general and administrative expenses		75,669			112,594			97,540				(33)%	15%
Depreciation and amortization		30,617			33,084			30,779				(7)%	7%
Loss on sale of operating assets		—			—			2				*	*

Operating income		$	44,873		$	330,270		$	283,153			(86)%	17%
Operating margin		22.0		%	56.0		%	56.2		%
AOI **		$	81,910		$	366,098		$	315,599			(78)%	16%
AOI margin **		40.2		%	62.0		%	62.6		%

______________


*			Percentages are not meaningful.
**			See “—Non-GAAP Measures” above for the definition and reconciliation of AOI and AOI margin.

Revenue

Sponsorship & Advertising revenue decreased $386.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior year primarily due to a reduction in sponsorship revenue associated with our venues, festivals and lack of online activity as ticket sales declined driven by the unprecedented stoppage of events beginning in mid-March of 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating results

The decreased operating income for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by the reduction in revenue discussed above along with higher fulfillment costs on certain sponsorship programs. This decrease was partially offset by cost reduction measures implemented during 2020, including salary reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending along with participating in government support programs globally.

Table of Contents

Consolidated Results of Operations


	Year Ended December 31,														% Change 2020 vs 2019		% Change 2019 vs 2018
	2020								2019			2018
	As Reported			Currency Impacts		Constant Currency**			As Reported			As Reported			As Reported	Constant Currency	As Reported
	(in thousands)
Revenue	$1,861,178			$	12,149	$	1,873,327		$	11,547,969		$	10,787,800		(84)%	(84)%	7%
Operating expenses:
Direct operating expenses	1,402,400			13,671		1,416,071			8,467,182			7,967,932			(83)%	(83)%	6%
Selling, general and administrative expenses	1,524,342			733		1,525,075			2,145,486			1,997,028			(29)%	(29)%	7%
Depreciation and amortization	485,025			345		485,370			443,991			386,529			9%	9%	15%

Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets	503			(10)		493			(2,373)			10,369			*	*	*
Corporate expenses	102,100			(12)		102,088			168,839			153,406			(40)%	(40)%	10%

Operating income (loss)	(1,653,192)			$	(2,578)	$	(1,655,770)		324,844			272,536			*	*	19%
Operating margin	(88.8)		%			(88.4)		%	2.8		%	2.5		%
Interest expense	226,832								157,521			140,976

Interest income	(11,737)								(14,406)			(8,961)
Equity in losses (earnings) of nonconsolidated affiliates	5,458								(5,457)			(2,747)
Other expense (income), net	(17,080)								2,082			12,163
Income (loss) before income taxes	(1,856,665)								185,104			131,105
Income tax expense (benefit)	(28,875)								66,892			40,765
Net income (loss)	(1,827,790)								118,212			90,340
Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	(103,255)								48,323			30,091
Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders of Live Nation	$	(1,724,535)							$	69,889		$	60,249

________


*			Percentages are not meaningful.
**			See “—Non-GAAP Measures” above for definition of constant currency.

Table of Contents

Corporate

Corporate expenses decreased $66.7 million, or 40%, during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior year primarily due to cost reduction efforts implemented during 2020, including salary reductions, with salaries for senior executives reduced by up to 60%. Additional cost reduction efforts include hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment and repairs and maintenance.

Interest expense

Interest expense increased $69.3 million, or 44%, during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior year due to additional interest costs from the issuance of our 4.75% senior notes in October 2019, the issuance of our 2.0% convertible senior notes in February 2020 and the issuance of our 6.5% senior secured notes in May 2020. These additional costs were partially offset by interest cost reductions realized from the October 2019 redemption of our 5.375% senior notes and amendment to our senior secured credit facility.

Our debt balances, excluding unamortized debt discounts and issuance costs, were $5.0 billion and $3.4 billion as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Income taxes

For the year ended December 31, 2020, we had a net tax benefit of $28.9 million on losses before income taxes of $1.9 billion compared to a net tax expense of $66.9 million on income before income taxes of $185.1 million for 2019. In 2020, the net income tax benefit consisted of $16.4 million related to United States federal income taxes, $12.8 million related to foreign entities partially offset by $0.3 million tax expense related to state and local income taxes. The net decrease in tax expense of $95.8 million is due primarily to lower pre-tax income or higher pre-tax losses in taxable jurisdictions.

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests was a loss of $103.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to income of $48.3 million in the prior year primarily due to lower operating results from certain concert and festival promotion businesses driven by postponed and cancelled events during 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

In response to the impact that the global COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business, and the uncertainty of the duration of current conditions globally, we have taken certain actions to strengthen our liquidity position and preserve our capital resources.

In April 2020, we amended our senior secured credit facility to provide an incremental $130 million revolving credit facility. We further amended our senior secured credit facility in July 2020, which, among other things, substitutes our net leverage covenant with a $500 million liquidity covenant (as defined in the agreement) until the earlier of (a) December 31, 2021 and (b) at our election, any fiscal quarter prior to December 31, 2021. In February 2020, we issued $400 million principal amount of 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025 and in May 2020 we issued $1.2 billion principal amount of 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027. In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028. As a result, we believe that these amendments and additional debt issuances will allow us the flexibility to manage our business through the disruption we experienced in 2020 and expect to experience in 2021.

Our cash is centrally managed on a worldwide basis. Our primary short-term liquidity needs are to fund general working capital requirements, capital expenditures and debt service requirements while our long-term liquidity needs are primarily related to acquisitions and debt repayment. Our primary sources of funds for our short-term liquidity needs will be cash flows from operations and borrowings under our amended senior secured credit facility, while our long-term sources of funds will be from cash flows from operations, long-term bank borrowings and other debt or equity financings. We may from time to time engage in open market purchases of our outstanding debt securities or redeem or otherwise repay such debt.

Table of Contents

Our balance sheet reflects cash and cash equivalents of $2.5 billion for both December 31, 2020 and 2019. Included in the December 31, 2020 and 2019 cash and cash equivalents balances are $673.5 million and $837.7 million, respectively, of cash received that includes the face value of tickets sold on behalf of our ticketing clients and their share of service charges, which we refer to as client cash. We generally do not utilize client cash for our own financing or investing activities as the amounts are payable to clients on a regular basis. Our foreign subsidiaries held approximately $836.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, excluding client cash, at December 31, 2020. We generally do not repatriate these funds, but if we did, we would need to accrue and pay United States state income taxes as well as any applicable foreign withholding or transaction taxes on future repatriations. We may from time to time enter into borrowings under our revolving credit facility. If the original maturity of these borrowings is 90 days or less, we present the borrowings and subsequent repayments on a net basis in the statement of cash flows to better represent our financing activities. Our balance sheet reflects total net debt of $4.9 billion and $3.3 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Our weighted-average cost of debt, excluding unamortized debt discounts and debt issuance costs on our term loans and notes, was 4.4% at December 31, 2020.

Our cash and cash equivalents are held in accounts managed by third-party financial institutions and consist of cash in our operating accounts and invested cash. Cash held in non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing operating accounts in many cases exceeds the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limits. The invested cash is in interest-bearing funds consisting primarily of bank deposits and money market funds. While we monitor cash and cash equivalents balances in our operating accounts on a regular basis and adjust the balances as appropriate, these balances could be impacted if the underlying financial institutions fail. To date, we have experienced no loss or lack of access to our cash and cash equivalents; however, we can provide no assurances that access to our cash and cash equivalents will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

For our Concerts segment, we often receive cash related to ticket revenue in advance of the event, which is recorded in deferred revenue until the event occurs. In the United States, this cash is largely associated with events in our owned or operated venues, notably amphitheaters, festivals, theaters and clubs. Internationally, this cash is from a combination of both events in our owned or operated venues, as well as events in third-party venues associated with our promoter’s share of tickets in allocation markets. We do not otherwise generally hold cash for events being held in third-party venues. In the United States, most venues traditionally hold all the cash, and internationally either the venue holds all the cash or holds the portion of the cash associated with their ticket allocation. With the exception of some upfront costs and artist advances, which are recorded in prepaid expenses until the event occurs, we pay the majority of event-related expenses at or after the event. Artists are paid when the event occurs under one of several different formulas, which may include fixed guarantees and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits, net of any advance they have received. When an event is cancelled, any cash held in deferred revenue is reclassified to accrued expenses as those funds are typically refunded to the fan within 30 days of event cancellation. In certain markets, we are offering fans an incentive to receive a voucher for a future ticket purchase to one of our events in lieu of receiving a refund for a cancelled event. Where a fan has elected to receive the incentive voucher, the cash from the original ticket purchase remains in deferred revenue. When a show is rescheduled, fans have the ability to request a refund if they do not want to attend the event on the new date, although historically we have had low levels of refund requests for rescheduled events.

We view our available cash as cash and cash equivalents, less ticketing-related client cash, less event-related deferred revenue, less accrued expenses due to artists and cash collected on behalf of others, plus event-related prepaid expenses. This is essentially our cash available to, among other things, repay debt balances, make acquisitions, pay artist advances and finance capital expenditures.

Our intra-year cash fluctuations are impacted by the seasonality of our various businesses. Examples of seasonal effects include our Concerts segment, which reports the majority of its revenue in the second and third quarters. Cash inflows and outflows depend on the timing of event-related payments but the majority of the inflows generally occur prior to the event. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally beginning in mid-March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we did not experience our typical seasonality trends in 2020. See “—Seasonality” below. We believe that we have sufficient financial flexibility to fund these fluctuations and to access the global capital markets on satisfactory terms and in adequate amounts, although there can be no assurance that this will be the case, and capital could be less accessible and/or more costly given current economic conditions, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic. We expect cash flows from operations and borrowings under our amended senior secured credit facility, along with other financing alternatives, to satisfy working capital requirements, capital expenditures and debt service requirements for at least the succeeding year.

We may need to incur additional debt or issue equity to make other strategic acquisitions or investments. There can be no assurance that such financing will be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. We may make significant acquisitions in the near term, subject to limitations imposed by our financing agreements and market conditions.

Table of Contents

The lenders under our revolving loans and counterparty to our interest rate hedge agreement consists of banks and other third-party financial institutions. While we currently have no indications or expectations that such lenders will be unable to fund their commitments as required, we can provide no assurances that future funding availability will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Should an individual lender default on its obligations, the remaining lenders would not be required to fund the shortfall, resulting in a reduction in the total amount available to us for future borrowings, but would remain obligated to fund their own commitments. Should the counterparty to our interest rate hedge agreement default on its obligation, we could experience higher interest rate volatility during the period of any such default.

Fourth Quarter Results of Operations (Unaudited)


	December 31,
	2020		2019
	(in thousands)
Revenue	$	237,383	$	2,889,448
Operating loss	$	(388,014)	$	(82,920)
Net loss	$	(463,826)	$	(136,639)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders of Live Nation	$	(443,332)	$	(159,947)
Basic net loss available to common stockholders of Live Nation	$	(436,197)	$	(185,311)
Diluted net loss available to common stockholders of Live Nation	$	(436,197)	$	(185,311)
Basic and diluted net loss per common share available to common stockholders of Live Nation	(2.04)		(0.88)

Table of Contents

Sources of Cash

During 2020, we amended our senior secured credit facility, issued $1.2 billion principal amount of 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027 and issued $400 million principal amount of 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025. A portion of the proceeds were used to pay transaction fees of approximately $35.5 million, leaving approximately $1.6 billion for general corporate purposes.

In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028. Interest on the notes is payable semi-annually in cash in arrears on January 15 and July 15 of each year beginning on July 15, 2021, and will mature on January 15, 2028. The proceeds were used to pay estimated fees of $8.0 million and repay $75.0 million aggregate principal amount of our senior secured term loan B facility, leaving approximately $417.0 million for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions and organic investment opportunities.

Amended Senior Secured Credit Facility

Information regarding our amended senior secured credit facility can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

6.5% Senior Secured Notes Due 2027

Information regarding our 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

4.75% Senior Notes Due 2027

Information regarding our 4.75% senior notes due 2027 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

4.875% Senior Notes Due 2024

Information regarding our 4.875% senior notes due 2024 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

5.625% Senior Notes Due 2026

Information regarding our 5.625% senior notes due 2026 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

3.75% Senior Secured Notes Due 2028

Information regarding our 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 16—Subsequent Events.

2.5% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2023

Information regarding our 2.5% convertible senior notes due 2023 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

2.0% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2025

Information regarding our 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

Extinguishment of Debt

Information regarding extinguishment of our debt in October 2019 and March 2018 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

Debt Covenants

Information regarding our debt covenants can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 5—Long-Term Debt.

Table of Contents

Uses of Cash

Acquisitions

When we make acquisitions, the acquired entity may have cash at the time of acquisition. All amounts related to the use of cash for acquisitions discussed in this section are presented net of any cash acquired. During 2020, we used $41.1 million of cash primarily for the acquisitions of a festival promotion business and a venue management business, both located in the United States. As of the date of acquisition, the acquired businesses had a total of $77.4 million of cash on their balance sheets, primarily related to deferred revenue for future events.

During 2019, we used $235.1 million of cash primarily for the acquisitions of venue management and concert promotion businesses located in Canada, Belgium and the United States. As of the date of acquisition, the acquired businesses had a total of $74.7 million of cash on their balance sheets, primarily related to deferred revenue for future events.

Purchases and Sales of Noncontrolling Interests, net

In 2020, we used $106.2 million of cash primarily for the acquisitions of the remaining or additional interest in festival promotion businesses located in the United States and Brazil.

Capital Expenditures

Venue and ticketing operations are capital intensive businesses, requiring continual investment in our existing venues and ticketing systems in order to address fan and artist expectations, technological industry advances and various federal, state and/or local regulations.

We categorize capital outlays between maintenance capital expenditures and revenue generating capital expenditures. Maintenance capital expenditures are associated with the renewal and improvement of existing venues and technology systems, web development and administrative offices. Revenue generating capital expenditures generally relate to the construction of new venues, major renovations to existing buildings or buildings that are being added to our venue network, the development of new ticketing tools and technology enhancements. Revenue generating capital expenditures can also include smaller projects whose purpose is to increase revenue and/or improve operating income. Capital expenditures typically increase during periods when our venues are not in operation since that is the time that such improvements can be completed.

Our capital expenditures, including accruals for amounts incurred but not yet paid for but net of expenditures funded by outside parties such as landlords and noncontrolling interest partners or replacements funded by insurance proceeds, consisted of the following:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2020		2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Maintenance capital expenditures	$	65,111	$	150,896	$	135,022
Revenue generating capital expenditures	126,445		164,708		115,667
Total capital expenditures	$	191,556	$	315,604	$	250,689

Maintenance capital expenditures for 2020 decreased from the prior year primarily due to a reduction in leasehold improvements of certain office facilities, venue-related projects and technology enhancements as part of our cash savings initiatives implemented in connection with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Revenue generating capital expenditures for 2020 decreased from the prior year primarily due to lower spending in our amphitheater venues and a reduction in technology-related projects as part of our cash savings initiatives implemented in connection with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, $17.9 million, $22.0 million and $11.6 million, respectively, of insurance proceeds and landlord or noncontrolling interest partner reimbursements have been excluded from capital expenditures in the table above.

We currently expect capital expenditures to be approximately $150 million for the year ending December 31, 2021.

Table of Contents

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

Firm Commitments

In addition to the scheduled maturities on our debt and operating lease liabilities, we have future cash obligations under various types of contracts. We lease office space, certain equipment and many of the venues used in our concert operations under long-term operating leases. Some of our lease agreements contain renewal options and annual rental escalation clauses (generally tied to the consumer price index), as well as provisions for our payment of utilities and maintenance. We also have minimum payments associated with non-cancelable contracts related to our operations, such as artist guarantees and client ticketing agreements. As part of our ongoing capital projects, we will enter into construction-related commitments for future capital expenditure work. The scheduled maturities discussed below represent contractual obligations as of December 31, 2020 and thus do not represent all expected expenditures for those periods.

The scheduled maturities of our outstanding long-term debt (excluding unamortized debt discounts and issuance costs), scheduled maturities of operating lease liabilities, minimum payments under other non-cancelable contracts, capital expenditure commitments and expected payments of contingent and deferred consideration liabilities as of December 31, 2020 are as follows:

Payments Due by Period

Total

2021

2022-2023

2024-2025

2026 and thereafter

(in thousands)

Long-term debt obligations, including current maturities: (1)