LIVE NATION POSTS
POWERFUL Q2

Live Nation had a booming second quarter as revenue was up 29% to $2.8b, operating income rose 53% to $113m and adjusted operating income spiked 22% to $221m.

The report topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter, pushing up LN shares to $40 after hours.

In the second quarter, Live Nation promoted 7,720 shows—5,185 in North America— attended by 25m fans, an increase of 5.5m fans from the second quarter last year. During the quarter, attendance at each show increased by an average of 11%.

The promoter has sold more 68m tickets to shows this year through July, 12m more than at this point last year.

“We have built the industry’s most scalable and unparalleled live platform, bringing over 550 million fans in 40 countries to live events each year,” Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino wrote in the quarterly report. “With key metrics in each of concerts, sponsorship and ticketing pacing double digits ahead of last year, we are confident that 2017 will be another record year of results for Live Nation.”

Revenue rose 31% to $124.6m in the sponsorship & advertising business, which Rapino credited to having more than 50 sponsors spending more than $1m each annually.

Ticketmaster’s revenue for the quarter was up 9% to $484.6m.

Rapino noted, “As we increase conversion on mobile sites, we also continue to see a strong shift in purchase behavior to mobile, with these sites and our apps accounting for 31% of our sales in the quarter, up 27% year-on-year.”

Wall Street analysts greeted the news by holding up lighters and screaming "Freebird"!