30+ States Request Judge to Dissolve Live Nation-Ticketmaster Merger

Attorneys general from more than 30 states have formally asked a federal judge to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The top lawyers for the 34 states and the District of Columbia filed their proposed remedies May 21 following the April verdict in which a jury found that Live Nation operated an illegal monopoly.

In addition to the complete divesture of Ticketmaster — and appropriate monitoring that limits Live Nation from re-entering the major concert venue ticketing sector — the states want the judge to force Live Nation to divest “a sufficient number of Live Nation-owned Large Amphitheaters, together with the cancellation of a sufficient number of leases or exclusive booking arrangements.” In addition, the AGs have asked Judge Arun Subramanian to end certain exclusive ticketing deals.

The proposal goes much farther than the settlement reached by the Department of Justice and a handful of cooperator states. Under that deal — which still must approved by Subramanian in a separate process — Live Nation is required to merely open up booking contracts, rather than fully divest, in 13 amps and maintains the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger.

“A jury found Live Nation manipulated the market, hurt artists, fans, and businesses nationwide, all while getting richer — not because it is better, but because it acted illegally. Now, it’s time to ensure they can’t hurt consumers or the live ticketing industry again,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Today, alongside a bipartisan coalition, I asked the court to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It is vital that we secure strong structural remedies that prevent Live Nation’s anticompetitive conduct from continuing. As evidence in our trial clearly showed, we cannot trust this behemoth of a company to do the right thing by consumers.”

Even as dramatic as a Tickemaster spin-out would be, many AGs, including Bonta himself, had hinted in the weeks since the verdict they’d ask for a much more dramatic set of remedies, such as requiring each of Live Nation’s business sectors — promotion, management, venue operation and so on — to be broken up.

Meanwhile, Live Nation filed motions Thursday asking Subrmanian to set aside the verdict or, barring that, ordering a new trial.

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/05/22/states-ask-judge-to-break-up-live-nation-ticketmaster/)._