LYVLive Nation Entertainment, Inc.

Live Nation promotes concerts, owns venues and sells tickets through Ticketmaster — the whole live music chain in one pair of hands.

A promoter takes the tour's risk: the artist's fee is guaranteed, the box office is not. That part on its own earns little. The money appears next to it: the service fee on a ticket, food and drink at the venue, parking, sponsorship deals and premium seats where the mark-up is a multiple of an ordinary ticket.

Combining ticketing with promotion and venue ownership is exactly what the Department of Justice's antitrust suit targets: the demand to break the company up remains the main risk for the stock. The second risk is discretionary entertainment spending in a downturn. Demand for live performance grew faster than consumer spending generally after the pandemic. The company pays no dividend.