COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES |
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| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES We have non-cancelable contracts related to minimum performance payments with various artists, other event-related costs and nonrecoupable ticketing contract advances. We also have commitments relating to additions to property, plant, and equipment under certain construction commitments for facilities and venues.
As of December 31, 2020, our future minimum payments under non-cancelable contracts and capital expenditure commitments consist of the following:
Certain agreements relating to acquisitions provide for deferred purchase consideration payments at future dates. A liability is established at the time of the acquisition for these fixed payments. For obligations payable at a date greater than twelve months from the acquisition date, we apply a discount rate to calculate the present value of the obligations. As of December 31, 2020, we have accrued $11.7 million in other current liabilities and $7.3 million in other long-term liabilities and, as of December 31, 2019, we had accrued $7.1 million in other current liabilities and $9.1 million in other long-term liabilities, related to these deferred purchase consideration payments.
We have contingent obligations related to acquisitions which are accounted for as business combinations. Contingent consideration associated with business combinations is recorded at fair value at the time of the acquisition and reflected at current fair value for each subsequent reporting period thereafter until settled. We record these fair value changes in our statements of operations as selling, general and administrative expenses. The contingent consideration is generally subject to payout following the achievement of future performance targets and a portion is expected to be payable in the next twelve months. As of December 31, 2020, we have accrued $27.5 million in other current liabilities and $19.1 million in other long-term liabilities and, as of December 31, 2019, we had accrued $6.0 million in other current liabilities and $58.9 million in other long-term liabilities, representing the fair value of these estimated payments. The last contingency period for which we have an outstanding contingent payment is for the period ending June 2025. See Note 7—Fair Value Measurements for further discussion related to the valuation of these contingent payments.
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we guaranteed the debt of third parties of approximately $12.1 million and $16.5 million, respectively, primarily related to maximum credit limits on employee and tour-related credit cards, obligations of a nonconsolidated affiliate and obligations under a venue management agreement.
Litigation
Consumer Class Actions
The following putative class action lawsuits were filed against Live Nation and/or Ticketmaster in the United States and Canada: Vaccaro v. Ticketmaster LLC (Northern District of Illinois, filed September 2018); Ameri v. Ticketmaster LLC (Northern District of California, filed September 2018); Lee v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Northern District of California, filed September 2018); Thompson-Marcial v. Ticketmaster Canada Holdings ULC (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, filed September 2018); McPhee v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Superior Court of Quebec, District of Montreal, filed September 2018); Crystal Watch v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan, by amendments filed September 2018); Gaetano v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Northern District of New York, filed October 2018); Dickey v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed October 2018); Gomel v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver Registry, filed October 2018); Smith v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. (Ontario Superior Court of Justice, filed October 2018); Messing v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed November 2018); and Niedbalski v. Ticketmaster LLC, et al. (Central District of California, filed December 2018).
As of November 2020, each of the consumer class actions filed in the United States had been dismissed with prejudice. In March 2019, the Dickey lawsuit was dismissed, and the Gaetano lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by the plaintiff in April 2019. The Ameri lawsuit was dismissed in May 2019, and the Vaccaro lawsuit was dismissed in June 2019. In June 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s ruling in the Lee lawsuit, compelling arbitration and dismissing the case. In November 2020, the Messing and Niedbalski lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice.
The remaining Canadian lawsuits make similar factual allegations that Live Nation and/or Ticketmaster LLC engage in conduct that is intended to encourage the resale of tickets on secondary ticket exchanges at elevated prices. Based on these allegations, each plaintiff asserts violations of different provincial and federal laws. Each plaintiff also seeks to represent a class of individuals who purchased tickets on a secondary ticket exchange, as defined in each plaintiff’s complaint. The complaints seek a variety of remedies, including unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages, restitution, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees and costs. Based on information presently known to management, we do not believe that a loss is probable of occurring at this time, and believe that the potential liability, if any, will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, cash flows or results of operations. Further, we do not currently believe that the claims asserted in these lawsuits have merit, and considerable uncertainty exists regarding any monetary damages that will be asserted against us. We continue to vigorously defend these actions.
CIE Arbitration
In July 2019, Ticketmaster New Ventures, S. de R.L. de C.V. (“TNV”), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of LNE, entered into agreements with Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento, S.A.B. de C.V. (“CIE”) and Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (“TV”) to acquire an aggregate 51% interest in OCESA Entretenimiento, S.A. de C.V. (“OCESA”) and certain other related subsidiaries of CIE. We made our initial concentration notice filings with the regulatory authorities in Mexico in late August 2019 and received approval for the transaction in mid-April 2020. CIE shareholders approved the acquisition in September 2019. In May 2020, we notified CIE that we were terminating our agreement with it as a result of CIE’s failure to comply with its contractual obligation to continue operating the target companies in the ordinary course of business and the occurrence of a material adverse effect (as that term is defined in the CIE purchase agreement). We simultaneously notified TV that we were terminating our agreement with it, which agreement may be terminated if the agreement with CIE is terminated for any reason. On May 25, 2020, TNV commenced binding arbitration proceedings, seated in New York, New York, before the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, seeking a declaratory judgment that it properly terminated the CIE purchase agreement and that any obligations thereunder are excused on the grounds set forth above, among others. On July 30, 2020, CIE filed its response to TNV’s claims, asserting, among other things, that CIE did not breach its obligation to continue operating the target companies in the ordinary course of business and that no material adverse effect (as that term is defined in the CIE purchase agreement) has occurred, and CIE joined LNE as a party to the arbitration proceedings as a joint obligor under the CIE purchase agreement. CIE is seeking specific performance to require us to proceed with closing under the CIE purchase agreement and damages in an unspecified amount arising from our alleged failure to timely close. The matter has been assigned to a panel of arbitrators and a hearing has been scheduled to commence in March 2022. We intend to vigorously defend these claims.
Other Litigation
From time to time, we are involved in other legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business, including proceedings and claims based upon purported violations of antitrust laws, intellectual property rights and tortious interference, which could cause us to incur significant expenses. We have also been the subject of personal injury and wrongful death claims relating to accidents at our venues in connection with our operations. As required, we have accrued our estimate of the probable settlement or other losses for the resolution of any outstanding claims. These estimates have been developed in consultation with counsel and are based upon an analysis of potential results, including, in some cases, estimated redemption rates for the settlement offered, assuming a combination of litigation and settlement strategies. It is possible, however, that future results of operations for any particular period could be materially affected by changes in our assumptions or the effectiveness of our strategies related to these proceedings.
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