LIVE NATION POSTS
A Q1 TO REMEMBER

Revenue at Live Nation rose 17% to $1.7b in the first quarter of 2019 as the concert promoter posted its highest first quarter adjusted operating income ever, $115m.

Concerts and sponsorship segments were the drivers as both delivered record first quarter revenue and operating results. Concert division revenue hit $1.32b in Q1, up 31% at constant currency over Q1 2018. Sponsorship was up 4% to $75.1m.

Revenue beat Wall Street expectations by $140m.

The company staged 8,068 concerts worldwide in Q1, nearly 900 more than 2018. Of that total, 5,530 concerts were presented in North America.

The number of concert attendees was up 22% over 2018 to nearly 15m; revenue was up 27% and operating loss improved by 7%.

Through mid-April, Live Nation has sold more than 49m concert tickets, up 5% year-on-year, and Ticketmaster has sold 4m more concert tickets for shows this year than at the same time last year. Ticketmaster had an exceptionally good quarter, posting its fourth highest transacted fee-bearing gross transaction value ever.

Even though there are three quarters to go—and it helps that nearly every major tour for the year has gone on sale—the company is projecting that it will see double-digit operating income and AOI growth for the full year.

Michael Rapino is expected to comment once he's played the guitar solo in his third encore.