Live Nation, which faces a lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Pres Joe Bidensaw its share price soar the following Wednesday (November 6). Donald Trumphis victory in the US presidential election a day earlier.
Shares of Live Nation rose 7.1% to $125.99 and rose as high as $127.64, just short of the all-time high of $127.75 set on Nov. 5, 2021. Investors could see Trump's re-entry into the White House as a good sign for Live The Nation's efforts to thwart the DOJ's efforts to dissolve the company.
In a lawsuit filed in May, the DOJ alleged that Live Nation abused its market power to harm competition through exclusive ticketing contracts and threats and retaliation against venues that choose competing ticketing companies, among other actions that the DOJ claims they are illegal and violate the consent decree that placed pro-competitive restrictions on the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010.
“A change in administration usually brings a change in the climate around antitrust efforts, and it could affect a case like Live Nation,” he says. Bill Morrisonpartner in Haynes and Boone. “It depends on who is in those key points and then what the priorities of those offices are. We've seen big turnarounds in the past.”
Faced with the prospect of less regulation and a government seen as pro-market, US indices posted big gains on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.6% to a record high. Similarly, the Nasdaq composite rose 3.0% and the S&P 500 improved 2.5% as both hit all-time highs. The NYSE composite gained 1.9% but fell below an all-time high.
Trump-related stocks also fared well, including Tesla, whose chief executive, Elon Muskcampaigned heavily for Trump. The company's shares rose 14.8% while rivals Rivian and Lucid Group fell 8.3% and 5.3% respectively. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., owner of Trump's Truth Social app, rose 5.9 percent.
Bitcoin rose 9.4% to an all-time high of $76,012 on Wednesday. Trump signaled a laissez-faire approach to cryptocurrencies and said he would quickly fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Genslera critic who has chastised many crypto companies and favors stricter regulations. Trump himself is dabbling in a new cryptocurrency through World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance startup selling a token called WLFI.
In other music stock news, music streaming company LiveOne jumped 28.5% the day before the company released earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30, while shares of iHeartMedia fell 12.6% after the news that the radio station cut dozens of jobs at stations across the country this week.
