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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the other information set forth in this Annual Report. The following risks relate principally to our business and operations, our leverage and our common stock. If any of the risks and uncertainties develop into actual events, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline.

Risks Relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had, and may continue to have, a material negative impact on our business and operating results. The ultimate magnitude of this impact will depend on a variety of factors, including the duration of the pandemic, restrictions or new operational requirements in place or that result as our operations recommence on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis, the state of the global economy as a result of the pandemic, and the public’s willingness to attend events with large numbers of people, all of which are unknowable at this time.

In mid-March 2020, as the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic became clearer, we ceased all Live Nation tours and closed our venues to support global efforts at social distancing and mitigating the spread of the virus, and to comply with restrictions put in place by various governmental entities. Other concert promoters, venue operators and sports leagues around the globe similarly shut down. Each of our segments—Concerts, Ticketing and Sponsorship & Advertising—depends on live music and sporting events in order to generate most of its revenue. While most sports leagues have recommenced, some have done so at reduced capacity, and thus without the typical need for ticketing. Similarly, concerts have resumed on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis, often at reduced capacity and with the potential for cancellations and rescheduled events. Our revenue will continue to be negatively impacted until such time as concerts and sporting events resume full activity levels at full capacity on a global basis; the possibility exists that these circumstances might continue for a longer period of time than current expectations.

Due to the unprecedented nature of the global COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the non-linear recovery due in part to surges of the virus and its variants that in some instances has halted or reversed the lessening of restrictions on activities and the return to pre-pandemic life, our ability to forecast our cash inflows is hampered, and therefore our focus is on forecasting and managing operating costs and cash outflows against our overall liquidity position. At this time, it is impossible to know or predict whether the positive steps we saw toward returning to pre-pandemic event levels in various global jurisdictions in 2021 will continue or be hampered by additional waves of the virus, potentially causing national and local governments around the world to once again place or retain various restrictions on gatherings of people that prohibit or greatly impair the ability to hold concert and sporting events. This uncertainty exists on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis in the in the 45 countries in which we operate.

We face ancillary risks and uncertainties arising from the global COVID-19 pandemic in addition to any partial or complete shutdown of its revenue-generating operations. Many of these risks and uncertainties are more fully described below in this Item 1A. whether or not such risk factors identify the global COVID-19 pandemic as the underlying cause, and many extend beyond the initial impact of the pandemic on our business due to the uncertainty as to how the live music and sporting industries, and the world in general, will change in the short and long term as a result of the pandemic. The risks and uncertainties described herein should be read in conjunction with those set forth below. Such additional or attendant risks and uncertainties include, among other things:

•The impact of tightening labor markets across the globe with unemployment rates dropping, resignations reaching record highs, and upward pressure on salaries and wages due to inflation and demand for skilled workers in numerous fields; combined with, continuing supply chain issues could impact our ability to produce tours and festivals as well as open and maintain venues without timing and cost disruptions;

•the increased risk of litigation in the current and future environment, such as pending lawsuits challenging aspects of our ticket refund policies and procedures;

•a reduction in the profitability of our operations, whether due to increased operating costs of complying with governmental restrictions or safety precautions and protocols voluntarily undertaken, such as the need to supply personal protective equipment or conduct health screenings at points of ingress, or due to a reduction in revenue arising from such precautions, such as the potential that venues may not be able to be filled to capacity due to spacing and social distancing limitations in place at such time;

•potential decreased willingness of artists to tour, or impracticability of touring due to varying restrictions from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, including the possibility that national or sub-national borders are closed to travel;

•potential changes to consumer preferences for consumption of live music or sporting events due to fears of, or restrictions on, large gatherings;

•loss of ticketing clients due to the economic impacts of the pandemic whereby they are no longer in operation, reducing the number of events to which our ticketing business can sell tickets;

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•the inability to pursue expansion opportunities or acquisitions due to capital constraints;

•the future availability or increased cost of insurance coverage;

•a potential shift away from live events by sponsors and advertisers; and

•the incurrence of additional expenses related to compliance, precautions and management of our company during and after this period.

The likelihood of the realization or intensification of these risks and uncertainties and the ultimate magnitude of their impact on us are not knowable or quantifiable at this time, as the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts may continue for an unknown period of time. Thus far, there have been several waves—periods where infection rates subside followed by spikes due to variants of the virus or other factors—of the pandemic, which may lead to stronger restrictions being put into place for a greater duration of time. Different jurisdictions have and will continue to lift social distancing guidelines and restrictions on gatherings of people at different times, will have varied rules in place thereafter and will respond to any future waves of the virus in different ways. The longer the duration of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the greater the ancillary and lingering effects, the greater the material negative impact on the Company and its results of operations may be. While vaccination programs are now in place, the changing and evolving nature of the COVID-19 virus presents challenges to such programs, making the future course and duration of the pandemic uncertain, which impacts our business in a manner that is unknowable at this time.

In addition, due to the reduction in cash flows we have experienced and are likely to experience in the future from the global COVID-19 pandemic, we have proactively taken a number of steps to enhance our liquidity position, including our cost-savings and cash management programs described in Item 8.—Financial Statements—Note 2—Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic and the additional debt issuances. Our decreased cash flows have heightened and intensified the risks described under the “Risks Relating to Our Leverage” section of the risk factors in this report. There can be no assurances that we will remain in compliance with the covenants in our debt and credit instruments, or that we would be able to obtain waivers or amendments in order to avoid default.

We will continue to evaluate and explore additional mechanisms to attempt to ensure that we have adequate capital to fund our business, including through the issuance and sale of additional debt or equity securities. The terms of future debt agreements could include more restrictive covenants, or require incremental collateral, which may further restrict our business operations or be unavailable due to our covenant restrictions then in effect. In 2020, Moody’s and S&P downgraded the Company’s credit ratings and applied negative outlooks to our business. In 2021, Moody’s and S&P both revised their outlooks from negative to stable, and in January 2022, S&P further improved their outlook to positive. We may experience negative credit actions if the pandemic and its ancillary effects persist. There is no guarantee that debt financings will be available in the future to fund our obligations, or that they will be available on terms consistent with our expectations. Additionally, the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the financial markets could adversely impact our ability to raise funds.

Risks Relating to Our Business and the Live Events and Ticketing Industries

Our business is highly sensitive to public tastes and is dependent on our ability to secure popular artists and other live music events, and we and our ticketing clients may be unable to anticipate or respond to changes in consumer preferences, which may result in decreased demand for our services.

Our business is highly sensitive to rapidly changing public tastes and is dependent on the availability of popular artists and events. Our live entertainment business depends in part on our ability to anticipate the tastes of consumers and to offer events that appeal to them. Since we rely on unrelated parties to create and perform at live music events, any unwillingness to tour or lack of availability of popular artists could limit our ability to generate revenue. In particular, there are a limited number of artists that can headline a major North American or global tour or who can sell out larger venues, including many of our amphitheaters. If those artists do not choose to tour, or if we are unable to secure the rights to their future tours, then our concerts business would be adversely affected. Our artist management business could be adversely affected if the artists it represents do not tour or perform as frequently as anticipated, or if such tours or performances are not as widely attended by fans as anticipated due to changing tastes, general economic conditions or otherwise. Our ticketing business relies on third parties to create and perform live entertainment, sporting and leisure events and to price tickets to such events. Accordingly, our ticketing business’ success depends, in part, upon the ability of these third parties to correctly anticipate public demand for particular events, as well as the availability of popular artists, entertainers and teams.

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In addition, our live entertainment business typically books our live music tours four to eight months in advance of the beginning of the tour and often agrees to pay an artist a fixed guaranteed amount prior to our receiving any revenue. Therefore, if the public is not receptive to the tour, or we or an artist cancel the tour, we may incur a loss for the tour depending on the amount of the fixed guarantee or incurred costs relative to any revenue earned, as well as revenue we could have earned at booked venues. We have cancellation insurance policies in place to cover a portion of our losses if an artist cancels a tour but such policies may not be sufficient and are subject to deductibles. Furthermore, consumer preferences change from time to time, and our failure to anticipate, identify or react to these changes could result in reduced demand for our services, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends on relationships between key promoters, executives, agents, managers, artists and clients and any adverse changes in these relationships could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The live music business is uniquely dependent upon personal relationships, as promoters and executives within live music companies such as ours leverage their existing network of relationships with artists, agents and managers in order to secure the rights to the live music tours and events which are critical to our success. Due to the importance of those industry contacts to our business, the loss of any of our promoters, officers or other key personnel could adversely affect our business. Similarly, the artist management business is dependent upon the highly personalized relationship between a manager and an artist, and the loss of a manager may also result in a loss of the artist represented by the manager, which could adversely affect our business. Although we have entered into long-term agreements with many of those individuals described above to protect our interests in those relationships, we can give no assurance that all or any of these key employees or managers will remain with us or will retain their associations with key business contacts, including music artists, as some agreements between a manager and an artist are not for a fixed period of time and are instead terminable at will.

The success of our ticketing business depends, in significant part, on our ability to maintain and renew relationships with existing clients and to establish new client relationships. We anticipate that, for the foreseeable future, the substantial majority of our Ticketing segment revenue will be derived from both online and mobile sales of tickets. We also expect that revenue from primary ticketing services, which consists primarily of our portion of per ticket convenience charges and per order service fees, will continue to comprise the substantial majority of our Ticketing segment revenue. We cannot provide assurances that we will be able to maintain existing client contracts, or enter into or maintain new client contracts, on acceptable terms, if at all, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Another important component of our success is our ability to maintain existing and to build new relationships with third-party distribution channels, advertisers, sponsors and service providers. Any adverse change in these relationships, including the inability of these parties to fulfill their obligations to our businesses for any reason, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face intense competition in the live music and ticketing industries, and we may not be able to maintain or increase our current revenue, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our businesses are in highly competitive industries, and we may not be able to maintain or increase our current revenue due to such competition. The live music industry competes with other forms of entertainment for consumers’ discretionary spending and within this industry we compete with other venues to book artists, and, in the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from other promoters and venue operators. Our competitors compete with us for key employees who have relationships with popular music artists and who have a history of being able to book such artists for concerts and tours. These competitors may engage in more extensive development efforts, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and make more attractive offers to existing and potential artists. Due to increasing artist influence and competition to attract and maintain artist clients, we may enter into agreements on terms that are less favorable to us, which could negatively impact our financial results. Our competitors may develop services, advertising options or music venues that are equal or superior to those we provide or that achieve greater market acceptance and brand recognition than we achieve. Within the live music industry, our artist management business also competes with numerous other artist management companies and individual managers in the United States alone, both to discover new and emerging artists and to represent established artists. Across the live music industry, it is possible that new competitors may emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share.

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Our ticketing business faces significant competition from other national, regional and local primary ticketing service providers to secure new and retain existing clients on a continuous basis. Additionally, we face significant and increasing challenges from companies that sell self-ticketing systems and from clients who choose to self-ticket, through the integration of such systems into their existing operations or the acquisition of primary ticket services providers or by increasing sales through venue box offices and season and subscription sales. We also face competition in the resale of tickets from resale marketplaces and from other ticket resellers with online distribution capabilities. The advent of new technology, particularly as it relates to online ticketing, has amplified this competition. The intense competition that we face in the ticketing industry could cause the volume of our ticketing services business to decline. As we are also a content provider and venue operator we may face direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients, who primarily include live event content providers. This direct competition with our prospective or current primary ticketing clients could result in a decline in the number of ticketing clients we have and a decline in the volume of our ticketing business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the secondary ticket sales market, we have restrictions on our business that are not faced by our competitors, imposed as a result of agreements entered into with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Attorneys General of several individual states, and various international governing bodies. These restrictions include: a requirement to clearly and conspicuously disclose on any primary ticketing website where a link or redirect to a resale website owned or controlled by us is posted, that the link is directing the user to a resale website and that ticket prices often exceed the ticket’s original price; and a requirement to make certain clear and conspicuous disclosures and in certain instances disclose when a ticket being offered for resale is not “in-hand” as well as a requirement to monitor and enforce the compliance of third parties offering tickets on our websites with such disclosure requirements. There are certain state laws that now ban such ticket listings, and the New York Attorney General has in the past brought lawsuits against resale companies for these practices.

Other variables related to the competitive environment that could adversely affect our financial performance by, among other things, leading to decreases in overall revenue, the number of sponsors, event attendance, ticket prices and fees or profit margins include:

•an increased level of competition for advertising dollars, which may lead to lower sponsorships as we attempt to retain advertisers or which may cause us to lose advertisers to our competitors offering better programs that we are unable or unwilling to match;

•unfavorable fluctuations in operating costs, including increased guarantees to artists, which we may be unwilling or unable to pass through to our customers via higher ticket prices;

•inability or unwillingness to fund the significant up-front cash requirements associated with our touring and ticketing businesses due to insufficient cash on hand or capacity under our senior secured credit facility, which could result in the loss of key tours to competitors or the inability to secure and retain ticketing clients;

•competitors’ offerings that may include more favorable terms than we do in order to obtain agreements for new venues or ticketing arrangements or to obtain events for the venues they operate;

•technological changes and innovations that we are unable to adopt or are late in adopting that offer more attractive entertainment alternatives than we or other live entertainment providers currently offer, which may lead to a reduction in attendance at live events, a loss of ticket sales or lower ticket fees; and

•other entertainment options available to our audiences that we do not offer.

Our success depends, in significant part, on entertainment, sporting and leisure events and economic and other factors adversely affecting such events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A decline in attendance at or reduction in the number of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events may have an adverse effect on our revenue and operating income. In addition, during periods of economic slowdown and recession, many consumers have historically reduced their discretionary spending and advertisers have reduced their advertising expenditures. The impact of economic slowdowns on our business is difficult to predict, but they may result in reductions in ticket sales, sponsorship opportunities and our ability to generate revenue. The risks associated with our businesses may become more acute in periods of a slowing economy or recession, which may be accompanied by a decrease in attendance at live entertainment, sporting and leisure events. Many of the factors affecting the number and availability of live entertainment, sporting and leisure events are beyond our control. For instance, certain sports leagues have experienced labor disputes leading to threatened or actual player lockouts. Any such lockouts that result in shortened or canceled seasons would adversely impact our business to the extent that we provide ticketing services to the affected teams both due to the loss of games and ticketing opportunities as well as the possibility of decreased attendance following such a lockout due to adverse fan reaction.

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Our business depends on discretionary consumer and corporate spending. Many factors related to corporate spending and discretionary consumer spending, including economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as unemployment levels, fuel prices, interest rates, changes in tax rates and tax laws that impact companies or individuals, and inflation can significantly impact our operating results. Business conditions, as well as various industry conditions, including corporate marketing and promotional spending and interest levels, can also significantly impact our operating results. These factors can affect attendance at our events, premium seat sales, sponsorship, advertising and hospitality spending, concession and merchandise sales, as well as the financial results of sponsors of our venues, events and the industry. Negative factors such as challenging economic conditions and public concerns over terrorism and security incidents, particularly when combined, can impact corporate and consumer spending, and one negative factor can impact our results more than another. There can be no assurance that consumer and corporate spending will not be adversely impacted by current economic conditions, or by any future deterioration in economic conditions, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.

We are dependent upon our ability to lease, acquire and develop live music venues, and if we are unable to do so on acceptable terms, or at all, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our Concerts and Sponsorship & Advertising segments require access to venues to generate revenue from live music events. For these events, we use venues that we own, but we also operate a number of our live music venues under various agreements which include leases with third parties, ownership through an equity interest or booking agreements, which are agreements where we contract to book the events at a venue for a specific period of time. Our long-term success in the live music business will depend in part on the availability of venues, our ability to lease these venues and our ability to enter into booking agreements upon their expiration. As many of these agreements are with third parties over whom we have little or no control, we may be unable to renew these agreements or enter into new agreements on acceptable terms or at all, and may be unable to obtain favorable agreements with venues. Our ability to renew these agreements or obtain new agreements on favorable terms depends on a number of other factors, many of which are also beyond our control, such as national and local business conditions and competition from other promoters. If the cost of renewing these agreements is too high or the terms of any new agreement with a new venue are unacceptable or incompatible with our existing operations, we may decide to forego these opportunities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to renew these agreements on acceptable terms or at all, or that we will be able to obtain attractive agreements with substitute venues, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may continue to expand our operations through the development of live music venues and the expansion of existing live music venues, which poses a number of risks, including:

•construction of live music venues may result in cost overruns, delays or unanticipated expenses;

•desirable sites for live music venues may be unavailable or costly; and

•the attractiveness of our venue locations may deteriorate over time.

Growth or maintenance of our existing revenue depends in part on consistent investment in our venues. Therefore, we expect to continue to make substantial capital improvements to meet long-term increasing demand, improve value and grow revenue. We frequently have a number of significant capital projects underway. Numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, may influence the ultimate costs and timing of various capital improvements.

The amount of capital expenditures can vary significantly from year to year. In addition, actual costs could vary materially from our estimates if our assumptions about the quality of materials, equipment or workmanship required or the cost of financing such expenditures were to change. Construction is also subject to governmental permitting processes which, if changed, could materially affect the ultimate cost.

Additionally, the market potential of live music venue sites cannot be precisely determined, and our live music venues may face competition in markets from unexpected sources. Newly constructed live music venues may not perform up to our expectations. We face significant competition for potential live music venue locations and for opportunities to acquire existing live music venues. Because of this competition, we may be unable to add to or maintain the number of our live music venues on terms we consider acceptable.

There is the risk of personal injuries and accidents in connection with our live music events, which could subject us to personal injury or other claims and increase our expenses, as well as reduce attendance at our live music events, causing a decrease in our revenue.

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There are inherent risks involved with producing live music events. As a result, personal injuries and accidents have occurred, and may in the future occur, from time to time, which could subject us to claims and liabilities for personal injuries. Incidents in connection with our live music events at any of our venues or festival sites that we own or rent could also result in claims, reducing operating income or reducing attendance at our events, which could cause a decrease in our revenue. We have been subject to wrongful death claims and are currently subject to other litigation. In addition, while we have security protocols in place at our events, illegal drug use or alcohol consumption at our events could result in negative publicity, adverse consequences (including illness, injury or death) to the persons engaged in such activities or others, and litigation against us. While we maintain insurance policies that provide coverage within limits that are sufficient, in management’s judgment, to protect us from material financial loss for personal injuries sustained by persons at our venues or events or accidents in the ordinary course of business, there can be no assurance that such insurance will be adequate at all times and in all circumstances.

On November 5, 2021, the Astroworld music festival was held in Houston, Texas. During the course of the festival, ten members of the audience sustained fatal injuries and others suffered non-fatal injuries. Following these events, hundreds of civil lawsuits have been filed against Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and related entities, asserting insufficient crowd control and other theories, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. These events are the subject of an ongoing investigation by local authorities in Harris County, Texas, and are the subject of an inquiry we received from the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform. We may incur material liabilities from the 2021 Astroworld event, for which it is currently expected liability insurance can provide sufficient coverage, but at this time there are no assurances of such coverage. In addition, this could negatively impact our business, including our ability to obtain reasonably priced insurance coverage for future events, costs of operating security at events and other cost and commercial ramifications. These effects could have a material impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or cash flows.

Poor weather adversely affects attendance at our live music events, which could negatively impact our financial performance from period to period.

We promote and/or ticket many live music events. Weather conditions surrounding these events affect sales of tickets, concessions and merchandise, among other things. Poor weather conditions can have a material effect on our results of operations particularly because we promote and/or ticket a finite number of events. Increased weather variability due to climate change exacerbates weather-related issues we face. Due to weather conditions, we may be required to cancel or reschedule an event to another available day or a different venue, which would increase our costs for the event and could negatively impact the attendance at the event, as well as concession and merchandise sales. Poor weather can affect current periods as well as successive events in future periods.

Risks Relating to Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Intellectual Property

The success of our ticketing business and other operations depends, in part, on the integrity of our systems and infrastructure, as well as affiliate and third-party computer systems, computer networks and other communication systems. System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in these systems and infrastructure may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in the information systems and infrastructure, both of our own ticketing systems and other computer systems and of affiliate and third-party software, computer networks and other communications systems service providers on which we rely, may adversely affect our ability to operate websites, process and fulfill transactions, respond to customer inquiries and generally maintain cost-efficient operations. Such interruptions could occur by virtue of natural disaster, malicious actions such as hacking or acts of terrorism or war, or human error. In addition, the loss of some or all of certain key personnel could require us to expend additional resources to continue to maintain our software and systems and could subject us to systems interruptions. The large infrastructure plant that is required to operate our systems requires an ongoing investment of time, money and effort to maintain or refresh hardware and software and to ensure it remains at a level capable of servicing the demand and volume of business that Ticketmaster receives. Failure to do so may result in system instability, degradation in performance, or unfixable security vulnerabilities that could adversely impact both the business and the consumers utilizing our services.

While we have backup systems for certain aspects of our operations, disaster recovery planning by its nature cannot be sufficient for all eventualities. In addition, we may not have adequate insurance coverage to compensate for losses from a major interruption. If any of these adverse events were to occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Data loss or other breaches of our network security could materially harm our business and results of operations, and the processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information could give rise to liabilities and additional costs as a result of governmental regulation, litigation and conflicting legal requirements relating to personal privacy rights.

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Due to the nature of our business, we process, store, use, transfer and disclose certain personal or sensitive information about our customers and employees. Penetration of our network or other misappropriation or misuse of personal or sensitive information and data, including credit card information and other personally identifiable information, could cause interruptions in our operations and subject us to increased costs, litigation, inquiries and actions from governmental authorities, and financial or other liabilities. In addition, security breaches, incidents or the inability to protect information could lead to increased incidents of ticketing fraud and counterfeit tickets. Security breaches and incidents could also significantly damage our reputation with consumers, ticketing clients and other third parties, and could result in significant costs related to remediation efforts, such as credit or identity theft monitoring.

Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer and employee information and to prevent security breaches or incidents (which could result in data loss or other harm or loss), such measures cannot provide absolute security or certainty. It is possible that advances in computer and hacker capabilities, new variants of malware, the development of new penetration methods and tools, inadvertent violations of company policies or procedures or other developments could result in a compromise of customer or employee information or a breach of the technology and security processes that are used to protect customer and employee information. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems may change frequently and as a result, may be difficult for our business to detect for long periods of time. In addition, despite our best efforts, we may be unaware of or unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We have expended significant capital and other resources to protect against and remedy such potential security breaches, incidents and their consequences, including the establishment of a dedicated cybersecurity organization within our larger technology environment, and will continue to do so in the future.

We also face risks associated with security breaches and incidents affecting third parties with which we are affiliated or with which we otherwise conduct business. In particular, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture and/or may pose a security risk that could unexpectedly compromise information security. For example, in the second quarter of 2018, we became aware that a third-party customer support product, used in certain jurisdictions outside the United States, was infected with a malicious code that may have allowed an unauthorized party to skim customers’ personal or payment information from their browsers. While we acted promptly to disable the infected third-party product, we continue to review our systems and interface with regulatory authorities as a result of this incident. These include proceedings contesting a proposed fine issued by the United Kingdom’s (“U.K.”) Information Commissioner’s Office in November 2020 against Ticketmaster U.K. Limited in connection with this incident. Consumers are generally concerned with the security and privacy of the internet, and any publicized security problems affecting our businesses and/or third parties may discourage consumers from doing business with us, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition to the above concerns related to network and data security, the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security and retention of personal or sensitive information and other user data are governed by existing and evolving federal, state and international laws. We have expended significant capital and other resources to keep abreast of the evolving privacy landscape, including the establishment of a dedicated global privacy organization within our legal team. However, our business could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in business practices or policies (including, for example, practices or policies regarding the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and retention of personal or sensitive information), or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement legislation or regulations in a manner which negatively affects our business, financial condition and/or results of operations. Due to the changes in the data privacy regulatory environment, we may incur additional costs and challenges to our business that restrict or limit our ability to collect, transfer, use, disclose, secure, or retain personal or sensitive information. These changes in data privacy laws may require us to modify our current or future products, services, programs, practices or policies, which may in turn impact the products and services available to our customers.

Regulators and government enforcement actions worldwide are imposing significant fines against companies for data privacy violations. Our business operations, including our ticketing business, involve the collection, transfer, use, disclosure, security, and disposal of personal or sensitive information in various locations around the world, including the European Union (“E.U.”), where the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) governs data privacy and can result in the imposition of significant fines and penalties. In addition, following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the E.U. on December 31, 2020, we were required to separately comply with the U.K.’s data protection law, under which additional fines and penalties could be imposed independent of the GDPR. In the United States, several new comprehensive privacy laws, including in California, Virginia and Colorado, which go into effect in 2023, will require us to update our policies and procedures to continue to protect data as required under those laws. The relationship between U.K. data protection law and the GDPR remains unclear, including regarding how data transfers between the E.U. and U.K. will be treated. The changes in the E.U.,U.K. and the United States. could lead to additional compliance costs and could increase our overall risk.

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As we expand our operations into new jurisdictions, the costs associated with compliance with applicable local data privacy laws and regulations increases. It is possible that government or industry regulation in these markets will require us to deviate from our standard processes and/or make changes to our products, services and operations, which will increase operational cost and risk.

Our failure or the failure of the various third-party vendors and service providers with which we are affiliated or otherwise conduct business to comply with applicable federal, state or international laws and regulations and/or to comply with our privacy policies and/or or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized collection, transfer, use or disclosure of personal or sensitive information or other user data may result in negative publicity resulting in reputation or brand damage, may discourage potential users from purchasing tickets or trying our products and services, and may result in proceedings/fines by governmental agencies and/or private litigation brought by consumers; the realization of one or all of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing upon intellectual property rights of third parties.

We regard our intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and similar intellectual property (as applicable) as critical to our success. We also rely heavily upon software codes, informational databases and other components that make up our products and services.

We have been granted trademark registrations and patents and/or have trademark and patent applications pending with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and/or various foreign authorities for various proprietary trademarks, technologies and other inventions. Any patent or trademark application filed may not result in a patent or trademark registration being issued, or existing or future patents or trademarks may not be adjudicated valid by a court or be afforded adequate protection against competitors. Likewise, the issuance of a patent or trademark registration to us does not mean that its processes, inventions or trademark will not be found to infringe upon rights previously issued to third parties. We rely on a combination of laws and contractual restrictions with employees, customers, suppliers, affiliates and others to establish and protect these proprietary rights. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property without authorization which, if discovered, might require legal action to correct. In addition, third parties may independently and lawfully develop substantially similar intellectual properties.

From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties. Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights in a meaningful manner or challenges to related contractual rights could result in erosion of brand names or other intellectual property and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Governmental Regulation and Litigation

We operate in international markets which subject us to risks associated with the legislative, judicial, accounting, regulatory, political and economic risks and conditions specific to such markets, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We provide services in various jurisdictions abroad through a number of brands and businesses that we own and operate, as well as through joint ventures, and we expect to continue to expand our international presence. We face, and expect to continue to face, additional risks in the case of our existing and future international operations, including:

•political instability, adverse changes in diplomatic relations and unfavorable economic and business conditions in the markets in which we currently have international operations or into which we may expand, particularly in the case of emerging markets;

•more restrictive or otherwise unfavorable government regulation of the live entertainment and ticketing industries, which could result in increased compliance costs and/or otherwise restrict the manner in which we provide services and the amount of related fees charged for such services;

•limitations on the enforcement of intellectual property rights;

•limitations on the ability of foreign subsidiaries to repatriate profits or otherwise remit earnings;

•adverse tax consequences due both to the complexity of operating across multiple tax regimes as well as changes in, or new interpretations of, international tax treaties and structures;

•expropriations of property and risks of renegotiation or modification of existing agreements with governmental authorities;

•diminished ability to legally enforce our contractual rights in foreign countries;

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•limitations on technology infrastructure, which could limit our ability to migrate international operations to a common ticketing system;

•variability in venue security standards and accepted practices;

•lower levels of internet usage, credit card usage and consumer spending in comparison to those in the United States; and

•difficulties in managing operations and adapting to consumer desires due to distance, language and cultural differences, including issues associated with (i) business practices and customs that are common in certain foreign countries but might be prohibited by United States law and our internal policies and procedures, and (ii) management and operational systems and infrastructures, including internal financial control and reporting systems and functions, staffing and managing of foreign operations, which we might not be able to do effectively or cost-efficiently.

As we expand into new markets these risks will be intensified and will have the potential to impact a greater percentage of our business and operating results. Our ability to expand our international operations into new jurisdictions, or further into existing jurisdictions will depend, in significant part, on our ability to identify potential acquisition candidates, joint venture or other partners, and enter into arrangements with these parties on favorable terms, as well as our ability to make continued investments to maintain and grow existing international operations. If the revenue generated by international operations is insufficient to offset expenses incurred in connection with the maintenance and growth of these operations, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, in an effort to make international operations in one or more given jurisdictions profitable over the long term, significant additional investments that are not profitable over the short term could be required over a prolonged period.

In foreign countries in which we operate, a risk exists that our employees, contractors or agents could, in contravention of our policies, engage in business practices prohibited by applicable United States laws and regulations, such as the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as the laws and regulations of other countries prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials such as the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. We maintain policies prohibiting such business practices and have in place global anti-corruption compliance and training programs designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations. Nevertheless, the risk remains that one or more of our employees, contractors or agents, including those based in or from countries where practices that violate such United States laws and regulations or the laws and regulations of other countries may be customary, as well as those associated with newly-acquired businesses, will engage in business practices that are prohibited by our policies, circumvent our compliance programs and, by doing so, violate such laws and regulations. Any such violations, even if prohibited by our internal policies, could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us and/or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and damage to our reputation, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, given our substantial operations in the U.K. and the E.U., we face risks and uncertainties due to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. The U.K. has agreed “third country” trading status in a new E.U.-U.K. Trade and Cooperation Agreement applicable from January 1, 2021. The trade agreement sets out arrangements in areas such as tariff-free trade in goods. However, it does not match the level of economic integration that existed while the U.K. was an E.U. Member State. There will be additional bureaucracy and cost with customs formalities, VAT, excise duties and ATA carnets for goods moved between the U.K. and the E.U.

These risks and uncertainties include some regulatory uncertainty for data protection. It has been confirmed that the U.K. ICO will not be able to act as the single authority for E.U. multinationals; this means that E.U. multinationals will often have two regulators; one for U.K. activities and one for the rest of the E.U. where cross-border processing takes place. Live Nation has been assigned a new lead authority based on its cross-border processing, so it continues to have a main point of contact for the E.U. In addition, the U.K. is now not part of the E.U. for purposes of data transfers. The GDPR principle that data cannot leave the E.U. (to the U.K. in this case) now applies, however the U.K. has been granted adequacy by the E.U., allowing data to continue to flow to the U.K. Live Nation has already documented data flows to identify where U.K. flows occur and have contractual templates prepared. We are in the process of reviewing the U.K.’s International Data Transfer Agreement laid out before the U.K. and will monitor whether the U.K. will implement an adequacy system, as proposed by the U.K. government’s data reform package, so we are prepared to comply with any transfer limitation obligations under the U.K. regime.

Live Nation as a tour sponsor will continue to use temporary worker routes into the U.K. now including E.U. and European Economic Area musicians and crew on the sponsor’s license. For tours in Europe, U.K. musicians’ working arrangements will be subject to individual E.U. member states and bilateral agreements reached with the U.K. Government. In the majority of member states the working arrangements will be similar, such as in France and Germany. In others, there may be new requirements for the sponsor. As a significant sponsor with a long-established footprint across the E.U. and E.E.A. markets, Live Nation remains in a strong position when European markets reopen from coronavirus restrictions.

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We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, and our failure to comply with these regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations are subject to federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations, policies and procedures, both domestically and internationally, which are subject to change at any time, governing matters such as:

•privacy laws and protection of personal or sensitive information, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our processing, storage, use and disclosure of personal or sensitive information;

•compliance with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries, as more particularly described above under the risk factor related to our international operations;

•primary ticketing and ticket resale services;

•construction, renovation and operation of our venues;

•licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances;

•human health, safety, security and sanitation requirements;

•the service of food and alcoholic beverages;

•working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws;

•compliance with the ADA and the DDA;

•hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws;

•sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes;

•marketing activities via the telephone and online; and

•historic landmark rules.

Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in proceedings/fines against us by governmental agencies and private actions brought by consumers, which if material, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we attempt to conduct our business and operations in a manner that we believe to be in compliance with such laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that a law or regulation will not be interpreted or enforced in a manner contrary to our current understanding of the law or regulation. In addition, the promulgation of new laws, rules and regulations could restrict or unfavorably impact our business, which could decrease demand for services, reduce revenue, increase costs and/or subject us to additional liabilities. For example, some legislatures have proposed laws in the past that would impose potential liability on us and other promoters and producers of live music events for entertainment taxes and for incidents that occur at our events, particularly relating to drugs and alcohol. New legislation could be passed that may negatively impact our business, such as provisions that have recently been proposed in various jurisdictions that would restrict ticketing methods. Additionally, governmental actions such as the current sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and European regulators on certain Russian individuals and entities, as well as other sanctions elsewhere in the world, could restrict or limit our business activities in certain areas or subject us to sanction for noncompliance, even if inadvertent.

From time to time, federal, state and local authorities and/or consumers commence investigations, inquiries or litigation with respect to our compliance with applicable consumer protection, advertising, unfair business practice, antitrust (and similar or related laws) and other laws. Our businesses have historically cooperated with authorities in connection with these investigations and have satisfactorily resolved each such material investigation, inquiry or litigation. We are currently subject to agreements with the States of New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois and the FTC which govern, and in certain cases place limitations on, our ticketing resale practices. Our competitors in the secondary ticket sales market are not, to our knowledge, bound by such limitations (other than as a result of laws that apply equally to all secondary ticket sellers) and as a result, we may be at a competitive disadvantage. From time to time, other states, Canadian provinces and the federal government have commenced investigations or inquiries related to other aspects of our ticketing business, including a now-settled suit brought by the Canadian Competition Bureau relating to alleged deceptive marketing practices. In addition, in January 2020, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend the duration of the consent decree we entered into in connection with our merger with Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restraints on our business (see the risk factor entitled “We recently agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business” below). We have incurred legal expenses in connection with the defense of governmental investigations and litigation in the past and may be required to incur additional expenses in the future regarding such investigations and litigation. In the case of antitrust (and similar or related) matters, any adverse outcome could limit or prevent us from engaging in the ticketing business generally (or in a particular segment thereof) or subject us to potential damage assessments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings may adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our results may be affected by the outcome of pending and future litigation. Unfavorable rulings in our legal proceedings may have a negative impact on us that may be greater or smaller depending on the nature of the rulings. In addition, we are currently, and from time to time in the future may be, subject to various other claims, investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings (whether civil or criminal) or lawsuits by governmental agencies or private parties, as further described in the immediately preceding risk factor. If the results of these investigations, proceedings or suits are unfavorable to us or if we are unable to successfully defend against third-party lawsuits, we may be required to pay monetary damages or may be subject to fines, penalties, injunctions or other censure that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we adequately address the issues raised by an investigation or proceeding or successfully defend a third-party lawsuit or counterclaim, we may have to devote significant financial and management resources to address these issues, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In December 2019, we agreed with the United States Department of Justice to extend and clarify the court-imposed final judgment to which we became subject in connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC, which places certain restrictions and obligations on us which could negatively impact our business.

In connection with the merger of Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment LLC in 2010, we became subject, through July 2020, to a court-imposed final judgment (the “Final Judgment”) that places certain restrictions and obligations on us in order to address the issues the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) raised in its antitrust review of the merger. Pursuant to the Final Judgment, we agreed to abide by certain behavioral remedies and to provide periodic reports to the DOJ about our compliance with the Final Judgment. The Final Judgment was due to expire in July 2020; in December 2019, we reached an agreement with the DOJ to clarify certain aspects of the Final Judgment and extend its duration through the end of 2025 (the “Amended Final Judgment”).

Under the Amended Final Judgment we may not (i) threaten to condition (or actually condition) the provision of Live Nation concerts on a venue choosing Ticketmaster, or (ii) retaliate (i.e., withhold any Live Nation concerts) in response to a venue choosing a ticketing services provider other than Ticketmaster. In addition, pursuant to the Amended Final Judgment, (i) an independent monitor has been appointed to monitor and report to the DOJ on our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment, and investigate any potential violations thereof, (ii) we appointed an internal antitrust compliance officer and have conducted (and will continue to annually conduct) internal trainings to ensure our employees fully comply with the Amended Final Judgment; (iii) we provided, and will continue to provide, notice to current or potential venue customers of the Amended Final Judgment and its restrictions on our business conduct; and (iv) we are subject to an automatic penalty of $1,000,000 for each violation. We agreed to pay costs and fees for the independent monitor and the DOJ’s past investigation and enforcement.

During the duration of the Amended Final Judgment, we are restricted from engaging in certain business activities that, absent the Final Judgment, would be lawful for us to undertake. Our inability to undertake these business strategies could disadvantage us when we compete against firms that are not restricted by any such order. In addition, our business will be under continued and enhanced scrutiny by the DOJ, including by the independent monitor. Our compliance with the Amended Final Judgment therefore creates certain unquantifiable business risks for us.

In connection with the merger we also entered into a consent agreement with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition (the “Canadian Consent Agreement”), which had the effect of imposing essentially the same terms as the Final Judgment on our business in Canada. The various terms of the Canadian Consent Agreement expired on or before July 2020.

Risks Relating to Our Leverage

We have a large amount of debt and lease obligations that could restrict our operations and impair our financial condition. The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness impose restrictions on us that limit the discretion of management in operating our business and that, in turn, could impair our ability to meet our obligations under our debt.

The agreements governing our senior secured credit facility and certain of our other indebtedness include restrictive covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to:

•incur additional debt;

•pay dividends and make distributions;

•make certain investments;

•repurchase our stock and prepay certain indebtedness;

•create liens;

•enter into transactions with affiliates;

•modify the nature of our business;

•enter into sale-leaseback transactions;

•transfer and sell material assets; and

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•merge or consolidate.

In addition, our senior secured credit facility includes other restrictions, including requirements to maintain certain financial ratios. Our failure to comply with the terms and covenants of our indebtedness could lead to a default under the terms of the governing documents, which would entitle the lenders to accelerate the indebtedness and declare all amounts owed due and payable.

As of December 31, 2021, our total indebtedness, excluding unamortized debt discounts and debt issuance costs of $99.5 million, was $5.8 billion. Our available borrowing capacity under the revolving portion of our senior secured credit facility at that date was $569.9 million, with outstanding letters of credit of $60.1 million. We may also incur significant additional indebtedness in the future.

Our substantial indebtedness could have adverse consequences, including:

•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations;

•increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, regulatory and industry conditions;

•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other purposes;

•requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to fund payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for operations and other purposes;

•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate;

•making us more vulnerable to increases in interest rates; and

•placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt.

To service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures, we will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control.

Our ability to service our debt and lease obligations and to fund potential acquisitions, artist and ticketing advances and capital expenditures will require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt will also depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. This is, to an extent, subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.

We cannot provide assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our debt or to fund our other liquidity needs. If our future cash flow from operations and other capital resources is insufficient to pay our obligations as they mature or to fund our liquidity needs, we may be forced to reduce or delay our business activities and capital expenditures, sell assets, obtain additional equity capital or restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt on or before maturity. In addition, the terms of our existing debt, including our senior secured credit facility, and other future debt may limit our ability to pursue any of these alternatives.

These measures might also be unsuccessful or inadequate in permitting us to meet scheduled debt service or lease obligations. We may be unable to restructure or refinance our obligations and obtain additional debt or equity financing or sell assets on satisfactory terms or at all. Capital markets have been volatile in the recent past; a downturn could negatively impact our ability to access capital should the need arise. As a result, the inability to meet our debt or lease obligations could cause us to default on those obligations. Any such defaults could materially harm our financial condition and liquidity.

See Item 7.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Commitments—Firm Commitments for further discussion.

We depend on the cash flows of our subsidiaries in order to satisfy our obligations.

We rely on distributions and loans from our subsidiaries to meet our payment requirements under our obligations. If our subsidiaries are unable to pay dividends or otherwise make payments to us, we may not be able to make debt service payments on our obligations. We conduct substantially all of our operations through our subsidiaries. Our operating cash flows and consequently our ability to service our debt is therefore principally dependent upon our subsidiaries’ earnings and their distributions of those earnings to us and may also be dependent upon loans or other payments of funds to us by those subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate legal entities and may have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amount due pursuant to our obligations or to make any funds available for that purpose. Our foreign subsidiaries generate a portion of our operating cash flows. Although we do not intend to repatriate these funds from our foreign subsidiaries in order to satisfy payment requirements in the United States, we would be required to accrue and pay United States state income taxes as well as any applicable foreign withholding or transaction taxes on future repatriations. These taxes could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the ability of our subsidiaries to provide funds to us may be subject to restrictions under our senior secured credit facility and may be subject to the terms of such subsidiaries’ future indebtedness, as well as the availability of sufficient surplus funds under applicable law.

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Conversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders and may affect our per share results and the trading price of our common stock.

The issuance of shares of our common stock upon conversion of our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders. Issuances of stock on conversion may also affect our per share results of operations. Any sales in the public market of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock.

General Risks Relating to our Business and Operations

We may be adversely affected by the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks or disease epidemics.

The occurrence and threat of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, intentional or unintentional mass-casualty incidents, public health concerns such as contagious disease outbreaks, natural disasters or similar events, may deter artists from touring and/or substantially decrease the use of and demand for our services and the attendance at live music events, which may decrease our revenue or expose us to substantial liability. The terrorism and security incidents in the past, military actions in foreign locations, periodic elevated terrorism alerts and fears from publicized contagious disease outbreaks have raised numerous challenging operating factors, including public concerns regarding air travel, military actions and additional national or local catastrophic incidents, causing a nationwide disruption of commercial and leisure activities.

In the event of actual or threatened terrorism events, some artists may refuse to travel or book tours, which could adversely affect our business. Attendance at events may decline due to fears over terrorism and contagious disease outbreaks, which could adversely impact our operating results. There have been terrorist attacks at events that we have promoted or with which we have otherwise been involved, which have resulted in lawsuits questioning, among other things, the adequacy of the security precautions at these events. While we are constantly evaluating the security precautions for our events in an effort to ensure the safety of the public, no security measures can guarantee safety and there can be no assurances that we won’t face liabilities, which could be substantial and materially impact our operating results, in connection with such terrorist attacks at our events. In addition, we hold a large number of events at third-party venues that we do not own or operate. While we do not have direct control over the security at such venues, there can be no guarantees that victims of a terrorism or casualty event at such venues will not seek to impose, or ultimately be successful in imposing, liability on us.

While we have health and safety programs designed to mitigate the risks that are inherent in the staging of concerts and other events, as well as those associated with extraordinary occurrences or actions that may take place at our events, there can be no assurances that these programs will be sufficient to fully cover every possibility. Despite our best efforts, some occurrences or actions are difficult to foresee and adequately plan for, which could lead to fan, vendor and/or employee harm resulting in fines, penalties, legal costs and reputational risk that could materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Exchange rates may cause fluctuations in our results of operations that are not related to our operations.

Because we own assets overseas and derive revenue from our international operations, we may incur currency translation losses or gains due to changes in the values of foreign currencies relative to the United States Dollar. We cannot predict the effect of exchange rate fluctuations upon future operating results. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our international operations accounted for approximately 19% of our revenue. We cannot predict the future relationship between the United States Dollar and the currencies used by our international businesses, principally the British Pound, Euro, Australian Dollar and Canadian Dollar. We experienced foreign exchange rate operating income of $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and foreign exchange operating losses of $9.2 million and $9.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2019, respectively, which impacted our operating income (loss). See Item 7A.—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

We may enter into future acquisitions and take certain actions in connection with such transactions, including actions taken to comply with antitrust, competition and other regulations, that could affect our business and results of operations; if we are unsuccessful in our future acquisition endeavors, our business could be adversely impacted.

Our future growth rate depends in part on our selective acquisition of additional businesses. A portion of our growth has been attributable to acquisitions. We may be unable to identify other suitable targets for further acquisition or make further acquisitions at favorable prices. If we identify a suitable acquisition candidate, our ability to successfully complete the acquisition would depend on a variety of factors, and may include our ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms and requisite government approvals. In addition, the credit agreement for our senior secured credit facility restricts our ability to make certain acquisitions. In connection with future acquisitions, we could take certain actions that could adversely affect our business, including:

•using a significant portion of our available cash;

•issuing equity securities, which would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership;

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•incurring substantial debt;

•incurring or assuming contingent liabilities, known or unknown;

•incurring amortization expenses related to intangibles; and

•incurring large accounting write-offs or impairments.

In addition, acquisitions involve inherent risks which, if realized, could adversely affect our business and results of operations, including those associated with:

•integrating the operations, financial reporting, technologies and personnel of acquired companies, including establishing and maintaining a system of internal controls appropriate for a public company environment;

•managing geographically dispersed operations;

•the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;

•the inherent risks in entering markets or lines of business in which we have either limited or no direct experience;

•the potential loss of key employees, customers and strategic partners of acquired companies; and

•the impact of laws and regulations relating to antitrust at the state, federal and international levels, which could significantly affect our ability to complete acquisitions and expand our business.

Our operations are seasonal and our results of operations vary from quarter to quarter and year over year, so our financial performance in certain financial quarters or years may not be indicative of, or comparable to, our financial performance in subsequent financial quarters or years.

We believe our financial results and cash needs will vary greatly from quarter to quarter and year to year depending on, among other things, the timing of tours, tour cancellations, event ticket on-sales, capital expenditures, seasonal and other fluctuations in our operating results, the timing of guaranteed payments and receipt of ticket sales and fees, financing activities, acquisitions and investments and receivables management. Because our results may vary significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year, our financial results for one quarter or year cannot necessarily be compared to another quarter or year and may not be indicative of our future financial performance in subsequent quarters or years. Typically, we experience our lowest financial performance in the first and fourth quarters of the calendar year as our outdoor venues are primarily used, and our festivals primarily occur, during May through October. In addition, the timing of tours of top grossing acts can impact comparability of quarterly results year over year and potentially annual results. The timing of event on-sales by our ticketing clients can also impact this comparability. In addition, the seasonality of our businesses could create cash flow management risks if we do not adequately anticipate and plan for periods of decreased activity, which could negatively impact our ability to execute on our strategy, which in turn could harm our results of operations. Due to the unprecedented stoppage of our concert events globally in mid-March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we did not experience our typical seasonality trends in 2020 and 2021 even with the resumption of events late in the second quarter of 2021.

The following table sets forth our operating income (loss) for the last eight fiscal quarters (in thousands):

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Costs associated with, and our ability to obtain, adequate insurance could adversely affect our profitability and financial condition.

We currently secure insurance programs to address our various risks with terms, conditions and costs that are appropriate for our business. However, heightened concerns and challenges regarding property, casualty, business interruption, contingency and other insurance coverage have resulted from terrorist and other security incidents along with varying weather-related conditions, pandemics and other incidents. Any such events that are of a massive scale causing significant losses to insurance providers could negatively impact the insurance marketplace, and as a result, we may experience increased difficulty obtaining sufficiently high policy limits of coverage at a cost we believe to be reasonable, including coverage for acts of terrorism, cyber attacks, weather-related damage and disruptions and other perils associated with our operations, including communicable diseases and/or pandemics. We have experienced a significant increase in our cost to obtain appropriate insurance over the past several years, though it is difficult to gauge the portion of this increase that is due to conditions in the insurance marketplace generally versus that attributable to our claims history for the mass casualty, cybersecurity, the global COVID-19 pandemic and other incidents that we have faced. We have a material investment in property and equipment at each of our venues, which are generally located near major cities and which hold events typically attended by a large number of fans. We also have a significant investment in technology, including our ticketing systems. At December 31, 2021, we had property and equipment with a net book value of $1.1 billion. We cannot guarantee that future increases in insurance costs and difficulties obtaining high policy limits will not adversely impact our profitability, thereby possibly impacting our operating results and growth.

We cannot provide assurance that our insurance policy coverage limits, including insurance coverage for property, casualty, artists, business interruption losses, cyber attacks and acts of terrorism, would be adequate under the circumstances should one or multiple events occur at or near any of our business locations, or that our insurers would have adequate financial resources to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages. We cannot guarantee that adequate coverage limits will be available, offered at a reasonable cost, or offered by insurers with sufficient financial soundness. The occurrence of such an incident or incidents affecting any one or more of our business facilities could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and future results of operations if asset damage and/or company liability were to exceed insurance coverage limits or if an insurer were unable to sufficiently or fully pay our related claims or damages.

We depend upon unionized labor for the provision of some of our services and any work stoppages or labor disturbances could disrupt our business; potential union pension obligations could cause us to incur unplanned liabilities.

The stagehands at some of our venues and other employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. Our union agreements typically have a term of three years and thus regularly expire and require negotiation in the ordinary course of our business. Upon the expiration of any of our collective bargaining agreements, however, we may be unable to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements on terms favorable to us, and our business operations may be interrupted as a result of labor disputes or difficulties and delays in the process of renegotiating our collective bargaining agreements. In addition, our business operations at one or more of our facilities may also be interrupted as a result of labor disputes by outside unions attempting to unionize a venue even though we do not have unionized labor at that venue currently. A work stoppage at one or more of our owned or operated venues or at our promoted events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage would have on our business.

We participate in, and make recurrent contributions to, various multiemployer pension plans that cover many of our current and former union employees. Our required recurrent contributions to these plans could unexpectedly increase during the term of a collective bargaining agreement due to ERISA laws that require additional contributions to be made when a pension fund enters into critical status, which may occur for reasons that are beyond our control. In addition, we may be required by law to fulfill our pension withdrawal liability with respect to any multiemployer pension plans from which we may withdraw or partially withdraw. Our potential withdrawal liability will increase if a multiemployer pension plan in which we participate has significant underfunded liabilities. Any unplanned or greater than expected multiemployer pension liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

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ITEM 2.PROPERTIES

As of December 31, 2021, we own, operate or lease 165 entertainment venues throughout North America and 94 entertainment venues internationally. We have a lease ending June 30, 2030 for our corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, used primarily by our executive group and certain of our domestic operations management staff. We also lease office space and other facilities in 43 countries that support our Concerts, Ticketing and Sponsorship & Advertising segment operations. We believe our venues and facilities are generally well-maintained and in good operating condition and have adequate capacity to meet our current business needs.

Our leases are for varying terms ranging from monthly to multi-year. These leases can typically be for terms of three to 10 years for our office leases and five to 25 years for our venue leases, and many include renewal options. There is no significant concentration of venues under any one lease or subject to negotiation with any one landlord. We believe that an important part of our management activity is to negotiate suitable lease renewals and extensions.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Information regarding our legal proceedings can be found in Part II—Financial Information—Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 9—Commitments and Contingent Liabilities and —Note 3—Business Acquisitions.

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PART II—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LYV” beginning on December 21, 2005. There were 2,991 stockholders of record as of February 16, 2022. This figure does not include an estimate of the indeterminate number of beneficial holders whose shares may be held of record by brokerage firms and clearing agencies.

Purchase of Equity Securities

The following table provides information regarding repurchases of our common stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

_________

Dividend Policy

Information regarding our dividend policy can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 12—Equity.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

Information is within Part II—Financial Information—Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data and should be read in conjunction with Item 7.—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations together with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business and future financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed under Item 1A.—Risk Factors and other sections in this Annual Report.

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations generally discusses 2021 and 2020 items along with year-over-year comparisons between these two years. Discussion of 2019 items and year-over-year comparisons between 2020 and 2019 can be found in Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Executive Overview

In 2021, we saw a meaningful restart of our operations in the second half of the year which is reflected in our financials and key performance indicators. After nearly a year and a half of very limited events and ticket sales, shows restarted in some key markets at scale during the third quarter. In particular, we saw outdoor amphitheater events as well as festivals take place in the United States and United Kingdom with enthusiastic fan response. Despite the operational challenges associated with ramping up our concerts in a compressed timeframe, increased health protocols, and a tighter labor market, we were able to hold most planned concerts, increase overall per fan profitability, and improve our operating income by over $1 billion compared to 2020. Emerging from the pandemic, our organization has streamlined its operations, reduced costs and focused its cash management strategies for future flexibility. Even in the face of new Covid variants and regional surges, our reopening is well underway in the United States and United Kingdom, while other parts of the world catch up as vaccination efforts gain momentum and government responses evolve. A key leading indicator of the future health of our business is transacted ticket sales and we had a record Q4 with the largest number of tickets sold in a quarter and the highest gross ticket value, excluding refunded tickets. Our resale business also hit an historic high for us in Q4.

Our total revenue increased by $4.4 billion for the full year, from $1.9 billion in 2020 to $6.3 billion in 2021. All three of our segments reported revenue growth due to more events, higher ticket sales and increased sponsor fulfillment over the past twelve months. As a result, our operating income improved by $1.2 billion, from a loss of $1.7 billion in 2020 to a loss of $418 million in 2021. The improvement resulted from increased events, ticket sales and sponsor client activation partially offset by higher selling, general and administrative expenses as we brought employees back from furlough and began hiring new roles to execute 2021 events and prepare for 2022. The impact of changes in foreign exchange rates did not materially impact our year-over-year variances.

Our Concerts segment revenue for the full year increased by $3.3 billion, from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $4.7 billion in 2021. The revenue growth was a result of increased shows and fans during the year as well as higher ancillary spend per fan and pricing at our events. The number of events for the full year was more than 17,200 compared to approximately 8,200 events in 2020. The number of fans for the full year was 35.1 million compared to approximately 11.1 million last year. The growth was largely in the United States and United Kingdom. Concerts operating loss for the full year improved by $340 million, from a loss of $959 million in 2020 to $618 million in 2021. The improvement was primarily due to more shows this year, an increase in net ancillary spend per fan at our amphitheater and festival events, and growth in pricing across all venue types. Our amphitheater net ancillary spend per fan grew by double digits compared to 2019 as a result of higher consumption and our transition to cashless transactions. At our major festivals that had over 100 thousand fans, we also saw growth in onsite spend with our ancillary per fan increasing by double-digits over 2019. Compared to 2019, overall pricing on tickets also increased by double digits. And while we have seen some adverse impacts in our operating expenses per show due to labor shortages and supply chain issues, our spend per fan metrics have outpaced the higher costs.

Our Ticketing segment revenue for the full year increased by $946 million, from $188 million in 2020 to $1.1 billion in 2021. The improvement resulted from an increase in ticket sales, stronger pricing, and a reduction in ticket refunds this year. Excluding refunds, we sold 153 million fee-bearing tickets this year compared to 58 million tickets last year. The improvement was almost entirely driven by sales in the United States and the United Kingdom, largely for concert and sporting events. Pricing on our fee-bearing tickets increased by double-digits, reflecting strong consumer demand, particularly for premium seats and VIP experiences. Our resale business bounced back dramatically in the second half of the year and Q4 was our highest resale gross transaction value quarter ever, at over $1 billion. Ticketing operating income for the year improved by $782 million, from a $612 million loss in 2020 to income of $170 million in 2021. The improvement in operating results was largely driven by increased ticket sales, strong ticket pricing and higher ancillary revenue streams.

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Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment revenue for the full year increased by $208 million, from $204 million in 2020 to $412 million in 2021. The improvement was due to higher activations with our marketing partners driven by more events going on sale, venues re-opening and supplying more advertising content to our clients. Even with a compressed sales window, we saw strong sales for many of our larger festivals. Operating income for the year increased by $157 million, from $45 million in 2020 to $202 million in 2021. The improvement was due to more sponsor and online advertising activations resulting from the restart of live events and rapidly increasing ticket sales, particularly in the United States.

As ticket sales and events scale up in key markets, we continue to focus on mitigating the financial impact of the pandemic. We are balancing our ramp-up with the cost-savings initiatives we implemented across the organization and are also protecting our liquidity by managing cash outflows associated with all our major expenditures: operating expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, and advances in both our ticketing and concert businesses. The progress and momentum over the last three quarters has made us even more optimistic about the long-term potential of our company and the unique power of live shows to unite people.

Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

The unprecedented and rapid spread of COVID-19 and the related government restrictions and social distancing measures implemented throughout the world significantly impacted our business from mid-March through the first half of this year. Late in the second quarter, however, we began to see the positive impacts of successful vaccination rollouts in many of our key markets, mainly the United States and United Kingdom, with social distancing restrictions easing and live events resuming. In the third quarter, we saw a meaningful restart of our operations with outdoor amphitheater events and festivals taking place in both the United States and United Kingdom. The restart of our operations has been executed with careful consideration for the safety and health of our fans, artists and employees through a mix of masking, testing and vaccination protocols at our events, venues and offices around the world.

Operating Results

The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic to our operating results are discussed in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 2—Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.

Cash and available liquidity

We currently have approximately $569.9 million available for future borrowings under our senior secured credit facility, net of outstanding letters of credit. In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028 and in September 2021, we elected to draw down the $400 million term loan A under the amended senior secured credit facility and completed the public offering of 5,239,259 shares of common stock for $449.6 million of net proceeds. We will continue to evaluate future financing opportunities to further expand liquidity at reasonable costs. Additionally, our senior secured credit facility has reverted back to a net leverage covenant (as defined in the agreement) as of December 31, 2021. We believe these additional debt and equity issuances allow us the flexibility to manage our business through the disruption that we continue to experience into 2022.

As of December 31, 2021, our total cash and cash equivalents balance was $4.9 billion, which included $1.3 billion of ticketing client cash. We believe this cash, net of client cash, together with our available debt capacity of $569.9 million, gives us the liquidity to fund our operations during the pandemic. Our total cash includes event-related deferred revenue for which the amount can fluctuate over the course of the year, but given the shift of shows into 2022, we expect this number to remain above seasonally normal levels throughout the first half of 2022.

Event-related deferred revenue consists of cash held by our Concerts business for future shows, with roughly one-third of the funds associated with upcoming shows in the United States and two-thirds for international shows as of December 31, 2021. In the United States, the funds are largely associated with shows in our owned or operated venues, notably amphitheaters and theaters and clubs, as well as festivals. Internationally, the funds held are from a combination of both shows in our owned or operated venues, as well as shows in third-party venues associated with our promoter share of tickets in allocation markets.

Cost and Cash Management Programs

In response to the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, on our business globally, we have implemented a number of initiatives to reduce fixed costs and conserve cash while our business was shut down. As part of these cost reduction efforts in 2020, we implemented salary reductions for most of our employees, with salaries for senior executives reduced by up to 60%. Additional cost reduction efforts that began in 2020 included hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, rent re-negotiations, furloughs, termination of certain employees and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment, repairs and maintenance, and marketing. As of the end of 2021, salaries have been fully restored and furloughed employees have returned to work and, as our business scales back up, we are beginning to reinvest in our growth while continuing to closely monitor our cash flow and liquidity.

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We continue to make use of government support programs globally. In most European and Asia-Pacific markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia, there were payroll support programs to mitigate a substantial portion of employee costs. Additionally, in the United States, we filed for payroll support under the Employee Retention Credit program established as part of the CARES Act, which ended in the third quarter of 2021. Finally, the CARES Act also provides for deferred payment of the employer portion of social security taxes through the end of 2020, with 50% of the deferred amount due December 31, 2021 and the remaining 50% due December 31, 2022.

Based on these actions and assumptions regarding the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that we will remain in compliance with our debt covenants throughout 2022 and be able to generate sufficient liquidity and profitability to satisfy our obligations for the next twelve months, prior to giving effect to any additional financings that may occur. Our forecasted expense management and liquidity measures may be modified as we get more clarity on the timing of events. We cannot assure you that our assumptions used to estimate our leverage, liquidity and profitability requirements will be correct because the evolving nature of the pandemic makes its ultimate magnitude and duration unknown, and as a consequence, our ability to be predictive is uncertain.

Health and Safety and Planning and Executing a Return to Business

We are currently implementing steps for the health and safety of our employees as they return to work in our offices in the future, and for our artists and fans as they return to live events. We are returning to work in local markets in appropriate numbers with expanded cleaning and in compliance with any social distancing or other regulations. Similarly, we are resuming concerts when the time is right on a market by market basis. We recognize that as concerts have started back up, the experience at our venues has changed, and are working with medical experts and public health officials to implement safety precautions and protocols necessary for fans to return to enjoy our shows. The reopening of concerts is happening on a market by market basis, and given that we operate in 45 countries globally, the timelines will vary from now to not for several months or beyond and changing conditions may cause reopened markets to again close down in the future.

As the leading global live event and ticketing company, we believe that we are well-positioned to provide the best service to artists, teams, fans and venues as business resumes. More than twenty years of ongoing global growth demonstrates the resilience of fan demand for the live entertainment experience.

Segment Overview

Concerts

Revenue and related costs for events are generally deferred and recognized when the event occurs. All advertising costs incurred during the year for shows in future years are expensed at the end of the year. If a current year event is rescheduled into a future year, all advertising costs incurred to date are expensed in the period when the event is rescheduled.

Concerts direct operating expenses include artist fees, event production costs, show-related marketing and advertising expenses, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Concerts segment, we primarily monitor the number of confirmed events and fan attendance in our network of owned or operated and third-party venues, talent fees, average paid attendance, market ticket pricing, advance ticket sales and the number of major artist clients under management. In addition, at our owned or operated venues and festivals, we monitor ancillary revenue per fan and premium ticket sales. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

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Ticketing

Revenue related to ticketing service charges is recognized when the ticket is sold for our third-party clients. For our own events, where our concert promoters control ticketing, revenue is deferred and recognized when the event occurs. Gross transaction value (“GTV”) represents the total amount of the transaction related to a ticket sale and includes the face value of the ticket as well as the service charge. We use GTV to evaluate changes in ticket fee revenue that are driven by the pricing of our service charges.

Ticketing direct operating expenses include call center costs and credit card fees, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Ticketing segment, we primarily review the GTV and the number of tickets sold through our ticketing operations, the number of clients renewed or added and the average royalty rate paid to clients who use our ticketing services. In addition, we review the number of visits to our websites, cost of customer acquisition, the purchase conversion rate, the overall number of customers in our database, the number and percentage of tickets sold via mobile and the number of app installs. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

Sponsorship & Advertising

Revenue related to sponsorship and advertising programs is recognized over the term of the agreement or operating season as the benefits are provided to the sponsor unless the revenue is associated with a specific event, in which case it is recognized when the event occurs.

Sponsorship & Advertising direct operating expenses include fulfillment costs related to our sponsorship programs, along with other costs.

To judge the health of our Sponsorship & Advertising segment, we primarily review the revenue generated through sponsorship arrangements and online advertising, and the percentage of expected revenue under contract. For business that is conducted in foreign markets, we also compare the operating results from our foreign operations to prior periods without the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.

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Key Operating Metrics

Year Ended December 31,

(in thousands except estimated events)

Concerts (1)

Estimated events:

Estimated fans:

Ticketing (2)

_________

(1)Events generally represent a single performance by an artist. Fans generally represent the number of people who attend an event. Festivals are counted as one event in the quarter in which the festival begins, but the number of fans is based on the days the fans were present at the festival and thus can be reported across multiple quarters. Events and fan attendance metrics are estimated each quarter.

(2)The fee-bearing tickets estimated above include primary and secondary tickets that are sold using our Ticketmaster systems or that we issue through affiliates. This metric includes primary tickets sold during the year regardless of event timing, except for our own events where our concert promoters control ticketing which are reported when the events occur. The non-fee-bearing tickets estimated above include primary tickets sold using our Ticketmaster systems, through season seat packages and our venue clients’ box offices, along with tickets sold on our “do it yourself” platform. These ticketing metrics are net of any refunds requested and any cancellations that occurred during the period and up to the time of reporting of these consolidated financial statements. Fee-bearing tickets sold above are net of refunds of 21.0 million and 27.3 million tickets for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Non-GAAP Measures

The following table sets forth the reconciliation of AOI to operating income (loss):

(in thousands)

Adjusted Operating Income (Loss)

AOI is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as operating income (loss) before certain stock-based compensation expense, loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets, depreciation and amortization (including goodwill impairment), amortization of non-recoupable ticketing contract advances and acquisition expenses (including transaction costs, changes in the fair value of accrued acquisition-related contingent consideration obligations, and acquisition-related severance and compensation). We use AOI to evaluate the performance of our operating segments. We believe that information about AOI assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our portfolio of businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. AOI is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of AOI as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business. Accordingly, AOI should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, AOI as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

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AOI Margin

AOI margin is a non-GAAP financial measure that we calculate by dividing AOI by revenue. We use AOI margin to evaluate the performance of our operating segments. We believe that information about AOI margin assists investors by allowing them to evaluate changes in the operating results of our portfolio of businesses separate from non-operational factors that affect net income (loss), thus providing insights into both operations and the other factors that affect reported results. AOI margin is not calculated or presented in accordance with GAAP. A limitation of the use of AOI margin as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain amortizing assets used in generating revenue in our business. Accordingly, AOI margin should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, operating income (loss) margin, and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, this measure may vary among other companies; thus, AOI margin as presented herein may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Constant Currency

Constant currency is a non-GAAP financial measure. We calculate currency impacts as the difference between current period activity translated using the current period’s currency exchange rates and the comparable prior period’s currency exchange rates. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations.

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Segment Operating Results

Concerts

Our Concerts segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:

(in thousands)

Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets (1,162) 505 (2,490) * *

_________________________

* Percentages are not meaningful.

Revenue

Concerts revenue increased $3.3 billion during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to the resumption of shows and festivals in major markets including the United States and United Kingdom late in the second quarter of 2021 as compared to revenue generated in January through mid-March of 2020 when our business was fully open prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Concerts had incremental revenue of $42.9 million during 2021 from acquisitions, primarily from OCESA.

Operating results

Concerts operating loss decreased $340.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily driven by the resumption of shows and festivals during 2021 discussed above. Included in depreciation and amortization in 2020 are $23.2 million in impairment charges of intangible assets due to the impacts from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Included in depreciation and amortization in 2019 are $21.2 million in impairment charges primarily associated with revenue-generating contract intangible assets. Concerts operating results for the year ended December 31, 2021 include net operating losses of $19.6 million related to acquisitions and new venues.

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Ticketing

Our Ticketing segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:

(in thousands)

Loss (gain) on disposal of operating assets (67) (1) 116 * *

__________________________

* Percentages are not meaningful.

Revenue

Ticketing revenue increased $945.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to an increase in North America primary and secondary ticket fees driven by more events on sale due to the resumption of concerts and sporting events in the second quarter of 2021, strong ticket pricing and lower ticket refunds in 2021.

Operating results

Ticketing operating income for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $170.3 million as compared to an operating loss of $612.0 million for the prior year primarily driven by the increased ticketing activity discussed above along with cost reduction measures implemented in the second quarter of 2020 continuing into 2021, including salary reductions, hiring freezes, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending along with participation in government support programs globally.

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Sponsorship & Advertising

Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment operating results were, and discussions of significant variances are, as follows:

(in thousands)

______________

* Percentages are not meaningful.

Revenue

Sponsorship & Advertising revenue increased $208.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to increased activity in national sponsorship programs, festival sponsorships and online advertising in North America due to the resumption of concert events and festivals in the second quarter of 2021.

Operating results

Sponsorship & Advertising operating income increased $157.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily driven by the higher sponsorship activity discussed above.

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Consolidated Results of Operations

(in thousands)

Operating expenses:

Equity in losses (earnings) of nonconsolidated affiliates (2,520) 5,458 (5,457)

________

* Percentages are not meaningful.

** See “—Non-GAAP Measures” above for definition of constant currency.

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Corporate

Corporate expenses increased $58.3 million, or 57%, during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to increased compensation expense driven by headcount growth and incentive compensation as a result of the increased operating results during 2021. During 2020, cost reduction efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic included salary reductions, hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment and repairs and maintenance.

Interest expense

Interest expense increased $55.6 million, or 25%, during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year due to additional interest costs from the issuance of our 2.0% convertible senior notes in February 2020, the issuance of our 6.5% senior secured notes in May 2020, the issuance of our 3.75% senior secured notes in January 2021 and the draw down of our term loan A under the amended senior secured credit facility.

Our debt balances, excluding unamortized debt discounts and issuance costs, were $5.8 billion and $5.0 billion as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Loss (Gain) from sale of investments in nonconsolidated affiliates

Gain from sale of investments in nonconsolidated affiliates was $83.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the prior year primarily due to the sale of certain cost basis investments during 2021.

Other expense (income), net

Other expense (income), net was a net loss of $3.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 and includes net foreign exchange rate losses of $20.6 million offset by $15.4 million in mark to market adjustments for certain investments. Other expense (income), net was a net income of $18.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2020 and includes net foreign exchange rate gains of $9.0 million. The net foreign exchange rate gains and losses result primarily from revaluation of certain foreign currency denominated net assets held internationally.

Income taxes

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a net tax benefit of $2.5 million on losses before income taxes of $611.3 million compared to a net tax benefit of $28.9 million on losses before income taxes of $1.9 billion for 2020. In 2021, the net income tax benefit consisted of $7.5 million tax expense related to United States federal income taxes, offset by $8.8 million tax benefit related to foreign entities and $1.2 million tax benefit related to state and local income taxes. The net increase in tax expense of $26.4 million is due primarily to higher pre-tax income or lower pre-tax losses in taxable jurisdictions.

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests

Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests was an income of $42.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to loss of $103.3 million in the prior year primarily due to higher operating results from certain concert and festival promotion businesses in North America during 2021 due to the resumption of events in 2021.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

In response to the impact that the global COVID-19 pandemic has had on our business, and the uncertainty of the duration of current conditions globally, we have taken certain actions to strengthen our liquidity position and preserve our capital resources.

In April 2020, we amended our senior secured credit facility to provide an incremental $130 million revolving credit facility. We further amended our senior secured credit facility in July 2020, which, among other things, substitutes our net leverage covenant with a $500 million liquidity covenant (as defined in the agreement) until the earlier of (a) December 31, 2021 and (b) at our election, any fiscal quarter prior to December 31, 2021. In February 2020, we issued $400 million principal amount of 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025 and in May 2020 we issued $1.2 billion principal amount of 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027. In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028 and in September 2021, we elected to draw down the $400 million term loan A under the amended senior secured credit facility and completed the public offering of 5,239,259 shares of common stock for $449.6 million of net proceeds. As a result, we believe these amendments and additional debt and equity issuances will allow us the flexibility to manage our business through the disruption we continue to experience into 2022.

Our cash is centrally managed on a worldwide basis. Our primary short-term liquidity needs are to fund general working capital requirements, capital expenditures and debt service requirements while our long-term liquidity needs are primarily related to acquisitions and debt repayment. Our primary sources of funds for our short-term liquidity needs will be cash flows from operations and borrowings under our amended senior secured credit facility, while our long-term sources of funds will be

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from cash flows from operations, long-term bank borrowings and other debt or equity financings. We may from time to time engage in open market purchases of our outstanding debt securities or redeem or otherwise repay such debt.

Our balance sheet reflects cash and cash equivalents of $4.9 billion at December 31, 2021 and $2.5 billion at December 31, 2020. Included in the December 31, 2021 and 2020 cash and cash equivalents balances are $1.3 billion and $673.5 million, respectively, of cash received that includes the face value of tickets sold on behalf of our ticketing clients and their share of service charges, which we refer to as client cash. We generally do not utilize client cash for our own financing or investing activities as the amounts are payable to clients on a regular basis. Our foreign subsidiaries held approximately $1.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents, excluding client cash, at December 31, 2021.

We generally do not repatriate these funds, but if we did, we would need to accrue and pay United States state income taxes as well as any applicable foreign withholding or transaction taxes on future repatriations. We may from time to time enter into borrowings under our revolving credit facility. If the original maturity of these borrowings is 90 days or less, we present the borrowings and subsequent repayments on a net basis in the statement of cash flows to better represent our financing activities. Our balance sheet reflects total net debt of $5.7 billion and $4.9 billion at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Our weighted-average cost of debt, excluding unamortized debt discounts and debt issuance costs on our term loans and notes, was 4.2% at December 31, 2021.

Our cash and cash equivalents are held in accounts managed by third-party financial institutions and consist of cash in our operating accounts and invested cash. Cash held in non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing operating accounts in many cases exceeds the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limits. The invested cash is in interest-bearing funds consisting primarily of bank deposits and money market funds. While we monitor cash and cash equivalents balances in our operating accounts on a regular basis and adjust the balances as appropriate, these balances could be impacted if the underlying financial institutions fail. To date, we have experienced no loss or lack of access to our cash and cash equivalents; however, we can provide no assurances that access to our cash and cash equivalents will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

For our Concerts segment, we often receive cash related to ticket revenue in advance of the event, which is recorded in deferred revenue until the event occurs. In the United States, this cash is largely associated with events in our owned or operated venues, notably amphitheaters, festivals, theaters and clubs. Internationally, this cash is from a combination of both events in our owned or operated venues, as well as events in third-party venues associated with our promoter’s share of tickets in allocation markets. With the exception of some upfront costs and artist advances, which are recorded in prepaid expenses until the event occurs, we pay the majority of event-related expenses at or after the event. Artists are paid when the event occurs under one of several different formulas, which may include fixed guarantees and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits, net of any advance they have received. When an event is cancelled, any cash held in deferred revenue is reclassified to accrued expenses as those funds are typically refunded to the fan within 30 days of event cancellation. In certain markets, we are offering fans an incentive to receive a voucher for a future ticket purchase to one of our events in lieu of receiving a refund for a cancelled event. Where a fan has elected to receive the incentive voucher, the cash from the original ticket purchase remains in deferred revenue. When a show is rescheduled, fans have the ability to request a refund if they do not want to attend the event on the new date, although historically we have had low levels of refund requests for rescheduled events.

We view our available cash as cash and cash equivalents, less ticketing-related client cash, less event-related deferred revenue, less accrued expenses due to artists and cash collected on behalf of others, plus event-related prepaid expenses. This is essentially our cash available to, among other things, repay debt balances, make acquisitions, pay artist advances and finance capital expenditures.

Our intra-year cash fluctuations are impacted by the seasonality of our various businesses. Examples of seasonal effects include our Concerts segment, which reports the majority of its revenue in the second and third quarters. Cash inflows and outflows depend on the timing of event-related payments but the majority of the inflows generally occur prior to the event. See “—Seasonality” below. We believe that we have sufficient financial flexibility to fund these fluctuations and to access the global capital markets on satisfactory terms and in adequate amounts, although there can be no assurance that this will be the case, and capital could be less accessible and/or more costly given current economic conditions, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic. We expect cash flows from operations and borrowings under our amended senior secured credit facility, along with other financing alternatives, to satisfy working capital requirements, capital expenditures and debt service requirements for at least the succeeding year.

We may need to incur additional debt or issue equity to make other strategic acquisitions or investments. There can be no assurance that such financing will be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. We may make significant acquisitions in the near term, subject to limitations imposed by our financing agreements and market conditions.

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The lenders under our revolving loans and counterparty to our interest rate hedge agreement consists of banks and other third-party financial institutions. While we currently have no indications or expectations that such lenders will be unable to fund their commitments as required, we can provide no assurances that future funding availability will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, including those resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Should an individual lender default on its obligations, the remaining lenders would not be required to fund the shortfall, resulting in a reduction in the total amount available to us for future borrowings, but would remain obligated to fund their own commitments. Should the counterparty to our interest rate hedge agreement default on its obligation, we could experience higher interest rate volatility during the period of any such default.

Fourth Quarter Results of Operations (Unaudited)

December 31,

(in thousands)

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Sources of Cash

During 2020, we amended our senior secured credit facility, issued $1.2 billion principal amount of 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027 and issued $400 million principal amount of 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025. A portion of the proceeds were used to pay transaction fees of approximately $35.5 million, leaving approximately $1.6 billion for general corporate purposes.

In January 2021, we issued $500 million principal amount of 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028. The proceeds were used to pay fees of $7.7 million and repay $75.0 million aggregate principal amount of our senior secured term loan B facility, leaving approximately $417.3 million for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions and organic investment opportunities.

In September 2021, we elected to draw down the $400 million term loan A under the amended senior secured credit facility prior to expiration of the drawdown period on October 17, 2021. We intend to use the proceeds from the drawdown for general corporate purposes. We also completed the public offering of 5,239,259 shares of common stock. A portion of the gross proceeds of $455.3 million were used to pay fees of $5.7 million, leaving $449.6 million of net proceeds. We used the net proceeds to fund the acquisition of 51% of the capital stock of OCESA and any remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes.

Amended Senior Secured Credit Facility

Information regarding our amended senior secured credit facility can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

6.5% Senior Secured Notes Due 2027

Information regarding our 6.5% senior secured notes due 2027 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6 —Long-Term Debt.

3.75% Senior Secured Notes Due 2028

Information regarding our 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

4.75% Senior Notes Due 2027

Information regarding our 4.75% senior notes due 2027 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

4.875% Senior Notes Due 2024

Information regarding our 4.875% senior notes due 2024 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

5.625% Senior Notes Due 2026

Information regarding our 5.625% senior notes due 2026 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

3.75% Senior Secured Notes Due 2028

Information regarding our 3.75% senior secured notes due 2028 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

2.5% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2023

Information regarding our 2.5% convertible senior notes due 2023 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

2.0% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2025

Information regarding our 2.0% convertible senior notes due 2025 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

Extinguishment of Debt

Information regarding extinguishment of our debt in October 2019 can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

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Debt Covenants

Information regarding our debt covenants can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt.

Uses of Cash

Acquisitions

When we make acquisitions, the acquired entity may have cash on its balance sheet at the time of acquisition. All amounts related to the use of cash for acquisitions discussed in this section are presented net of any cash acquired. During 2021, we used $384.3 million of cash primarily for the acquisition of OCESA. Information regarding our acquisitions can be found in Part II —Financial Information —Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 3—Business Acquisitions.

During 2020, we used $41.1 million of cash primarily for the acquisitions of a festival promotion business and a venue management business, both located in the United States. As of the date of acquisition, the acquired businesses had a total of $77.4 million of cash on their balance sheets, primarily related to deferred revenue for future events.

Purchases and Sales of Noncontrolling Interests, net

In 2020, we used $106.2 million of cash primarily for the acquisitions of the remaining or additional interest in festival promotion businesses located in the United States and Brazil.

Capital Expenditures

Venue and ticketing operations are capital intensive businesses, requiring investment in our existing venues and ticketing systems in order to address fan and artist expectations, technological industry advances and various federal, state and/or local regulations.

We categorize capital outlays between maintenance capital expenditures and revenue generating capital expenditures. Maintenance capital expenditures are associated with the renewal and improvement of existing venues and technology systems, web development and administrative offices. Revenue generating capital expenditures generally relate to the construction of new venues, major renovations to existing buildings or buildings that are being added to our venue network, the development of new ticketing tools and technology enhancements. Revenue generating capital expenditures can also include smaller projects whose purpose is to increase revenue and/or improve operating income. Capital expenditures typically increase during periods when our venues are not in operation since that is the time that such improvements can be completed.

Our capital expenditures, including accruals for amounts incurred but not yet paid for but net of expenditures funded by outside parties such as landlords and noncontrolling interest partners or replacements funded by insurance proceeds, consisted of the following:

Year Ended December 31,

(in thousands)

Maintenance capital expenditures for 2021 increased from the same period of the prior year primarily due to leasehold improvements of certain venue-related projects.

Revenue generating capital expenditures for 2021 decreased from the prior year primarily due to lower spending in our amphitheater venues and a reduction in technology-related projects as part of our cash savings initiatives implemented in connection with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, $5.9 million, $17.9 million and $22.0 million, respectively, of insurance proceeds and landlord or noncontrolling interest partner reimbursements have been excluded from capital expenditures in the table above.

We currently expect capital expenditures to be approximately $375 million for the year ending December 31, 2022.

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Contractual Obligations and Commitments

Firm Commitments

We have future cash obligations for our debt obligations and operating lease liabilities. We lease office space, certain equipment and many of the venues used in our concert operations under long-term operating leases. Some of our lease agreements contain renewal options and annual rental escalation clauses (generally tied to the consumer price index), as well as provisions for our payment of utilities and maintenance. Information regarding our scheduled maturities of our outstanding debt obligations (excluding unamortized debt discounts and issuance costs) and operating lease liabilities can be found in Part II—Financial Information—Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 6—Long-Term Debt and —Note 5—Leases, respectively.

We also have minimum payments associated with non-cancelable contracts related to our operations, such as artist guarantees and client ticketing agreements. As part of our ongoing capital projects, we will enter into construction-related commitments for future capital expenditure work. Information regarding our minimum payments for non-cancelable contracts and capital expenditures commitments can be found in Part II—Financial Information—Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 9—Commitments and Contingent Liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and thus do not represent all expected expenditures for those periods.

The estimated interest payments, expected payments of contingent and deferred consideration liabilities as of December 31, 2021 are as follows:

Payments Due by Period

(in thousands)

Uncertain income tax positions (2) — — — — — — —

_____________

Guarantees of Third-Party Obligations

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we guaranteed the debt of third parties of approximately $20.8 million and $12.1 million, respectively, primarily related to maximum credit limits on employee and tour-related credit cards, obligations of a nonconsolidated affiliate and obligations under a venue management agreement.

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Cash Flows

Year Ended December 31,

(in thousands)

Cash provided by (used in):

Operating Activities

Cash provided by operating activities was $1.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to cash used in operating activities of $1.1 billion for the prior year primarily due to increases in accounts payable, client accounts and accrued expenses resulting from the resumption of events in certain markets late in the second quarter of 2021 along with a reduction of net loss year over year partially offset by increases in accounts receivable.

Investing Activities

Cash used in investing activities increased $342.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to the OCESA acquisition. See “—Uses of Cash” above for further discussion.

Financing Activities

Cash provided by financing activities decreased $178.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the prior year primarily due to higher net proceeds in 2020 from debt issuances partially offset by proceeds from the sale of common stock and lower purchases of noncontrolling interests in 2021. See “—Sources of Cash” above for further discussion.

Seasonality

Information regarding the seasonality of our business can be found in Part II—Financial Information—Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 1—The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

Market Risk

We are exposed to market risks arising from changes in market rates and prices, including movements in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates.

Foreign Currency Risk

We have operations in countries throughout the world. The financial results of our foreign operations are measured in their local currencies. Our foreign subsidiaries also carry certain net assets or liabilities that are denominated in a currency other than that subsidiary’s functional currency. As a result, our financial results could be affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency exchange rates or weak economic conditions in the foreign markets in which we have operations. Currently, we do not have significant operations in any hyper-inflationary countries. Our foreign operations reported an operating loss of $176.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. We estimate that a 10% change in the value of the United States dollar relative to foreign currencies would change our operating income for the year ended December 31, 2021 by $17.7 million. As of December 31, 2021, our most significant foreign exchange exposure included the Euro, British Pound, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar and Mexican Peso. This analysis does not consider the implication such currency fluctuations could have on the overall economic conditions of the United States or other foreign countries in which we operate or on the results of operations of our foreign entities. In addition, the reported carrying value of our assets and liabilities, including the total cash and cash equivalents held by our foreign operations, will also be affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

We primarily use forward currency contracts, in addition to options, to reduce our exposure to foreign currency risk associated with short-term artist fee commitments. We also may enter into forward currency contracts to minimize the risks and/or costs associated with changes in foreign currency rates on forecasted operating income. At December 31, 2021, we had forward currency contracts outstanding with a notional amount of $100.4 million.

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Interest Rate Risk

Our market risk is also affected by changes in interest rates. We had $5.8 billion of total debt, excluding unamortized debt discounts and issuance costs, outstanding as of December 31, 2021. Of the total amount, we had $5.0 billion of fixed-rate debt and $0.8 billion of floating-rate debt.

Based on the amount of our floating-rate debt as of December 31, 2021, each 25-basis point increase or decrease in interest rates would increase or decrease our annual interest expense and cash outlay by approximately $1.9 million. This potential increase or decrease is based on the simplified assumption that the level of floating-rate debt remains constant with an immediate across-the-board increase or decrease as of December 31, 2021 with no subsequent change in rates for the remainder of the period.

In January 2020, we entered into an interest rate swap agreement that is designated as a cash flow hedge for accounting purposes to effectively convert a portion of our floating-rate debt to a fixed-rate basis. The swap agreement expires in October 2026, has a notional amount of $500.0 million and ensures that a portion of our floating-rate debt does not exceed 3.397%.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Information regarding recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements can be found in Item 8.—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 1—The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amount of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates that are based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The result of these evaluations forms the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities and the reported amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Because future events and their effects cannot be determined with certainty, actual results could differ from our assumptions and estimates, and such difference could be material. Management believes that the following accounting estimates are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results, and they require management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, resulting from the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. The following narrative describes these critical accounting estimates, the judgments and assumptions and the effect if actual results differ from these assumptions where applicable.

Consolidation

Typically we consolidate entities in which we own more than 50% of the voting common stock and control operations and also VIEs for which we are the primary beneficiary. Investments in nonconsolidated affiliates in which we own more than 20% of the voting common stock or otherwise exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies, but not control of the nonconsolidated affiliate, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. Investments in nonconsolidated affiliates in which we own less than 20% of the voting common stock and do not exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies are accounted for at fair value unless the investment does not have a readily determinable fair value in which case the investment is accounted for at cost less any impairment. Intercompany accounts among the consolidated businesses have been eliminated in consolidation. Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests is reflected in the statements of operations for consolidated affiliates.

Business Combinations

We account for our business combinations under the acquisition method of accounting. Identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any noncontrolling interest in the acquiree are recognized and measured as of the acquisition date at fair value. Additionally, contingent consideration is recorded at fair value on the acquisition date and classified as a liability. Goodwill is recognized to the extent by which the aggregate of the acquisition-date fair value of the consideration transferred and any noncontrolling interest in the acquiree exceeds the recognized basis of the identifiable assets acquired, net of assumed liabilities. Determining the fair value of assets acquired, liabilities assumed and noncontrolling interest requires management’s judgment and often involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions, including assumptions with respect to future cash flows, discount rates and asset lives among other items.

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Intangibles

We test for possible impairment of definite-lived intangible assets whenever events or circumstances change, such as a current period operating cash flow loss combined with a history of, or projections of, operating cash flow losses or a significant adverse change in the manner in which the asset is intended to be used, which could indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be recoverable.

We test for possible impairment of indefinite-lived intangible assets on at least an annual basis. Based on facts and circumstances, we perform either a qualitative or a quantitative assessment for impairment. If a qualitative assessment is performed, and the existence of events and circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired, we perform the quantitative impairment test by comparing the fair value with the carrying amount.

When performing quantitative assessments for impairment of our definite-lived and indefinite-lived intangible assets, we compare the estimated undiscounted future cash flows related to the asset or asset group to the carrying amount of those assets or asset group. If the carrying value is greater than the estimated undiscounted future cash flows, the cost basis of the asset or asset group is reduced to reflect the current fair value. We use various assumptions in determining the current fair value of these definite-lived and indefinite-lived intangible assets, including future expected cash flows, discount rates and royalty rates as well as other fair value measures. Our impairment loss calculations require us to apply judgment in estimating future cash flows, including forecasting useful lives of the assets and selecting the discount rate that reflects the risk inherent in future cash flows.

If actual results are not consistent with our assumptions and judgments used in estimating future cash flows and asset fair values, we may be exposed to future impairment losses that could be material to our results of operations.

Goodwill

We currently have six reporting units with goodwill balances: International Concerts, North America Concerts, Artist Management and Artist Services (non-management) within the Concerts segment; Sponsorship & Advertising; and Global Ticketing.

We test goodwill for impairment in any period when an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount or when we change our reporting units. We review goodwill for impairment annually, as of October 1, using a two-step process. The first step of the process is a qualitative evaluation as to whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of any of our reporting units is less than its carrying value using an assessment of relevant events and circumstances. Examples of such events and circumstances include historical financial performance, industry and market conditions, macroeconomic conditions, reporting unit-specific events, historical results of goodwill impairment testing, and the timing of the last performance of a quantitative assessment. We also considered changes in discount rates, market multiples, carrying value and forecast since the last quantitative test.

If any reporting units are concluded to be more likely than not impaired, or if that conclusion cannot be determined qualitatively, a second step is performed for that reporting unit. Regardless, it is our policy that all reporting units undergo a second step at least once every five years to support our annual qualitative first step. This second step, used to quantitatively screen for potential impairment and measure the impairment, if any, compares the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. Inherent in such fair value determinations are certain judgments and estimates relating to future cash flows, including our interpretation of current economic indicators and market valuations, and assumptions about our strategic plans with regard to our operations. Due to the uncertainties associated with such estimates, actual results could differ from such estimates. If the reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value, the excess of the carrying value over the fair value is recorded as an impairment to goodwill. If a reporting unit’s carrying value is negative, the reporting unit passes the impairment test. In this case, we will disclose the amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit and disclose which reportable segment the reporting unit is included in.

In both steps, discount rates, market multiples and sensitivity tests are derived and/or computed with the assistance of external valuation consultants. Generally, we test for sensitivity to changes in discount rates, revenue and terminal growth rates, and market multiples.

In developing fair values for our reporting units, we may employ a discounted cash flow or a market multiple methodology, or a combination thereof. The discounted cash flow methodology establishes fair value by estimating the present value of the projected future cash flows to be generated from the reporting unit. The discount rate applied to the projected future cash flows to arrive at the present value is intended to reflect all risks of ownership and the associated risks of realizing the stream of projected future cash flows. The discounted cash flow methodology uses our estimates of future financial performance. The most significant assumptions used in the discounted cash flow methodology are the discount rate and expected future revenue, which vary among reporting units.

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The market multiple methodology compares us to similar companies on the basis of risk characteristics to determine our risk profile relative to those companies as a group. This analysis generally focuses on both quantitative considerations, which include financial performance and other quantifiable data, and qualitative considerations, which include any factors which are expected to impact future financial performance. The most significant assumptions affecting the market multiple methodology are the market multiples used on projected future cash flows and market participant acquisition premium. A market participant acquisition premium represents the additional value a buyer would pay to obtain control of the respective reporting unit because having control would lead to higher cash flows, lower cost of capital or both. In 2021, as part of the October 1 annual review, market multiples were not incorporated into our assessments for some reporting units where its current financial metrics do not support use of the market approach as a corroborating approach. When these businesses stabilize, we will reincorporate the market approach into their fair value methodology.

In 2021 as part of our annual impairment test, all of our reporting units with goodwill were assessed under the initial qualitative evaluation and did not advance to the second step. Considerations included (a) excess of fair values over carrying values in the most recent quantitative analysis performed, (b) discount rates, (c) financial results and (d) sensitivity analyses. We also considered changes in discount rates, market multiples if applicable, carrying value and forecasts since the last time a quantitative test was performed.

Given the results of the tests performed, although we cannot predict future performance or market conditions, we do not currently believe any of our reporting units are at risk of failing the second step in the near future.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue from the promotion or production of an event is recognized when the show occurs. Revenue collected in advance of the event is recorded as deferred revenue until the event occurs. Revenue collected from sponsorship agreements, which is not related to a single event, is classified as deferred revenue and recognized over the term of the agreement or operating season as the benefits are provided to the sponsor.

LYV US Equity

LYV · 10-K · period ended 2021-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

ITEM 2.PROPERTIES

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

LYV US Equity☆

LYV · 10-K · period ended 2021-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

ITEM 2.PROPERTIES

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

LYV US Equity