In early March, concert giant Live Nation made the decision to postpone all of their upcoming tours, a call that came as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to pick up steam on a global level. While that was probably the right thing to do for the sake of people’s safety and containing the virus’ spread, the move hurt the company financially. The impact was major: Last financial quarter, the company’s revenues dropped by a staggering 98 percent.
Financial results for the quarter than ended on June 30, 2020 show that the company posted a net revenue of $74.1 million, which is 98 percent lower than the $3.16 billion they posted in the same financial quarter in 2019. Overall, the company experienced an adjusted operating loss of $431.9 million, compared to the $319.3 million gain they had in Q2 of 2019.
The difference in the amount of events they held in this past quarter of 2020 versus the same quarter in 2019 is also drastic. Globally, the company hosted 10,252 events in Q2 of 2019, while that number descended all the way down to 131 this year, a drop of about 99 percent. The numbers are similar in just North America, dipping from 7,213 down to just 24.
Live Nation said in a statement, “Over the past three months, our top priority has been strengthening our financial position to ensure that we have the liquidity and flexibility to get through an extended period with no live events. Our expectation is that live events will return at scale in the summer of 2021, with ticket sales ramping up in the quarters leading up to these shows.”
Meanwhile, the company recently announced plans to host a drive-in concert series.