“Heartbroken” Live Nation loses $1bn in market value following Astroworld tragedy

Having seen its share price jump 15% on Friday on the back of positive Q3 results, Live Nation saw more than $1bn wiped off its market value yesterday, 9 November, in the wake of a crowd surge at its Astroworld festival that left eight dead and around 300 injured.

The world’s biggest concert promoter is the subject of more than a dozed lawsuits in connection with the sold-out Houston music festival on Friday, that was attended by 50,000 people and involved tragic scenes during a performance by Travis Scott.

Live Nation’s share price fell 5% to below $118 in morning trading yesterday in New York, and finished the day 5.38% down.

Last week, Live Nation reported revenue of $2.6bn (£1.9bn) for the quarter ended 30 September, up dramatically from $184m (£136m) in the same period the previous year. Chief executive Michael Rapino said the company’s festival portfolio had performed particularly strongly, with many events having sold out in record time and overall ticket sales for major festivals up 10% on pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Shortly after the events at Astroworld, Live Nation issued a statement in which it said it was heartbroken. The promoter issued a further statement yesterday that can be found in full below:

We wanted to provide an update on the steps that Scoremore, Live Nation and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking. Throughout the weekend, we have been working to provide local authorities with everything they need from us in order to complete their investigation and get everyone the answers they are looking for.

Our staff has met with local authorities to provide information, and we have also provided them with all footage from our CCTV cameras. Load out of the site and equipment is currently paused to give investigators the time they requested to walk and document the grounds. Full refunds are being offered for all those who purchased tickets.

And most importantly we are working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counselling to setting up health funds to help with costs for medical expenses.

Our entire team is mourning alongside of the community.