A federal jury found Wednesday that Live Nation has been operating as an illegal monopoly ' a verdict that could lead to the breakup of the entertainment giant and its ticketing subsidiary, Ticketmaster, and bring relief to concertgoers who are sick of dynamic pricing and inexplicable service fees. The ruling came as internal Slack messages surfaced during the trial showing Live Nation employees joking about taking advantage of customers ' including one conversation about parking prices that prosecutors argued revealed the company's true attitude toward its customers. The verdict is the latest development in a web of litigation that began when the Department of Justice and 40 state attorneys general sued Live Nation in 2024 for alleged monopolistic practices. The two companies had merged in 2010 to form an entertainment giant that came to control the majority of ticket sales and venue bookings in the country, which made it more difficult for other companies to compete, according to...
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