The Biz: TikTok Hangs On, Live Nation In Court, Market Watch & More

TikTok Buys Time
After the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law that would force TikTok to find an American (or at least friendly) buyer, the popular social media platform went dark in the U.S. Jan. 19 — for less than 16 hours.
It came back, announcing its Lazarus move with flattering language about the efforts of then-soon-to-be-President Donald Trump to keep the platform going. After his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that delayed the ban required by the overwhelmingly bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act by 75 days. It’s unclear under what authority he delayed the ban and it’s equally unclear who would have standing to challenge the delay in the court.
Under the law, passed by large majorities in the House and Senate in 2024, TikTok’s owner, ByteDance— which has extensive ties to the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party — must divest from TikTok by Jan. 19 or the app will become unavailable in the United States. Proponents of the law say that ByteDance collects user data which it may share with the Chinese government and uses its algorithm to center information favorable to Chinese interests. TikTok has been implicated in numerous misinformation and disinformation efforts which the U.S. intelligence community says is a CCP effort to foment unrest and distrust in the U.S..
Trump has, at various times, supported a TikTok ban and opposed it.
“TikTok is worthless, worthless if I don’t approve it, it has to close. I learned that from the people that own it. If I don’t do the deal, it’s worthless, worth nothing. If I do the deal, it’s worth maybe a trillion dollars, a trillion,” Trump said from the Oval Office hours after his inauguration.
Trump’s valuation may be exaggerated but the market value of TikTok is certainly in the tens of billions, which would make selling the platform a no-brainer for any company operating under normal rules of business.
Trump also seemingly floated the idea of “the US” owning half of the company.
“If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half. In other words wait, I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok. And congratulations, TikTok has a good partner, and that would be worth, you know, could be $500 billion or something,” Trump said, though it’s not entirely clear if he meant the U.S. government — a state-owned social media company would be unprecedented for a non-Communist country — or just an American buyer.
In any case, there would be no shortage of buyers (which, again, if ByteDance was a normal company, means the sale would have been executed months ago), and possible purchasers include Elon Musk, Meta, Frank McCourt and Mark Cuban, all of whom have at least sniffed around the idea.
Live Nation Argues For Dismissal In Antitrust Case
The Trump Administration continues to staff up the Department of Justice and while some DOJ actions have been paused during the transition, the government’s antitrust action against Live Nation is moving right along for now.
Lawyers were back before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian Jan. 22 to argue dismissal motions filed by the live-entertainment giant.
Subramanian seemed, at least, open to one of Live Nation’s arguments. The DOJ says that the company is engaging in illegal “tying” by requiring artists to use its promotion services at its owned-and-operated venues. Live Nation says it has the right to refuse-to-deal with rival promoters and thus the so-called “tying” is merely standard business practice.
“The policy is that third-party artists may not rent their amphitheaters unless those artists purchase Live Nation promotion services as well,” DOJ attorney Arianna Markel said. “The artist is essentially forced to use Live Nation for its promotion services if it wants to use those amphitheaters.”
Subramanian wasn’t sure he agreed. “I can’t force them to rent these amphitheaters to rival promoters,” he said.
Live Nation also asked Subramanian to dismiss claims made by 27 of the 39 state plaintiffs that seek treble damages. Those states are making consumer-protection claims in what’s called a parens patriae suit, in which the state itself sues on behalf of its allegedly harmed citizens. LN’s attorneys said consumers are so far removed from any alleged anti-competitive actions that there wouldn’t be any actual harm and that, in fact, more competition could lead to higher end prices instead of lower ones.
“If Ticketmaster wasn’t doing what it was doing, then multiple ticketers could sell for an event, and then the customers would be better off in that world? That is only a theory,” Live Nation attorney Andrew Gass said.
Subramanian, on that point, was skeptical, saying that it seemed “straightforward” that multiple potential ticketers would lead to lower prices.
Lawyers have until Monday to file their written arguments in the dismissal motions. Subramanian promised he’d rule quickly so that discovery could get underway.
Bargatze Is Serious About Theme Park
Chart-topping comedian Nate Bargatze has been expanding his Nateland universe as a result of his skyrocketing recent success, moving into production and promotion in addition to podcasting (and, you know, stand-up comedy).
At various times (including in at least two Pollstar interviews), when he talks about future plans for Nateland, he’s mentioned a theme park. The thing with Bargatze is…it’s sometimes hard to tell if he’s being serious. The dry delivery is integral to his success but it also makes it hard for his interlocutor to determine if he’s being worked.
In an interview with his hometown paper The Tennessean, Bargatze insists he wants to build a theme park in Nashville to replace Opryland, which closed in 1997, much to the on-going chagrin of Middle Tennessee natives of a certain age (ahem).
“Opryland was great; We were devastated when it closed,” Bargatze told the paper. “I want to make some movies and continue to tour and then hopefully build a world here. You see Universal Studios. I kind of would like that to be a Nateland. We can have rides and start making movies here. I think I know what is missing in entertainment and I think this would work. … Nashville is the perfect place now; it’s easier to get people to come do things here because of its size like shoot movies or do shows. Nashville has blown up and that can be a good thing. A really good thing.”
Market Watch
Shares of Live Nation are up more than $5 for the week. Like many blue-chips, shares spiked when markets opened Tuesday as investors felt bullish after Trump’s inauguration. LYV’s price is up more than 47% since the antitrust case was filed in late May. … Shares of Sphere rose nearly $3 midday Thursday as both Anyma and Kenny Chesney added shows to their respective runs at the eponymous Vegas venue, though investors’ positivity appears to be more driven by Sphere’s standoff with Altice in a carriage dispute for the MSG regional sports networks that also fall under its umbrella. Analysts have long believed the showdown favors Sphere and MSG, as cable providers like Altice generally acquiesce to consumer demand and resume their agreements with networks, especially when those networks show beloved local sports teams. … Shares of TKO passed $150 for the first time Thursday and despite the record-setting prices, most analysts still rate the parent company of WWE and UFC as a buy with Guggenheim suggesting a target price of more than $170.
