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Live Nation Undergoes Another Round of Staff Reductions: Report
Live Nation today began instituting an additional round of cost-cutting measures with staff reductions impacting various divisions across the company including its concerts and ticketing groups, Pollstar has learned.
While it was not clear at publication time what percentage of staff is affected, this is just the latest round of staffing reductions impacting the world’s largest promoter that, like every major concert promoter and agency, has had to implement cost reductions.
On April 12 Live Nation shared a plan that included a host of “cost reduction efforts [including] hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, rent re-negotiations, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment, repairs and maintenance, and marketing.”
In late April Ticketmaster furloughed roughly 25% of its North American workforce representing “hundreds of employees”.
And in mid-May Live Nation continued its implementation of cost reduction with furloughs and as many as 20% of its full-time staff impacted after President and CEO Michael Rapino gave up his salary and execs took up to 50% pay cuts.
Live Nation reported a loss of $567.5 million for Q2 of 2020 on Aug. 5 in its quarterly earnings report as its business was dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s posted revenue was $74.1 million, down from Q2 2019’s revenue of 3.15 billion, or 98% from a year ago.