Live Nation stock crashes by more than 5% after Astroworld tragedy

Live Nation has seen its share price tumble by more than 5% following an incident at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston that left eight people dead.

The concert giant promoted the event, where a “mass-casualty” crowd crush during Scott’s headlining set on November 5 left hundreds more injured.

As a result, both Live Nation and Scott, as well as NRG Park, onstage collaborator Drake and more have had various lawsuits filed against them in the wake of the tragedy.

At the time of writing, 16 different suits have been filed, according to Law360.

Once the November 8 trading day closed, Live Nation’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange had fallen by 5.37%, wiping more than a billion dollars from the company’s market cap, which now sits at around USD $25.9 billion.

The crash comes just days after Live Nation stock surged 15% after publishing strong Q3 results, powered by the return of music festivals and beating Wall Street expectations.

One lawsuit, filed by festival attendee Manuel Souza, claims that the incident was a result of “a motivation for profit” at the expense of health and safety and “the encouragement of violence”.

Live Nation has since put out a statement with fellow Astroworld promoter Scoremore, saying their staff are working with local authorities and have provided footage from CCTV cameras.

They’re also reportedly working on ways to support the victims’ families and event attendees, by providing mental health counselling and a fund to cover medical expenses.

We wanted to provide an update on the steps that Live Nation, Scoremore and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking. https://t.co/BsAHPSQXhK

— Live Nation (@LiveNation) November 8, 2021

The remainder of Astroworld 2021 was cancelled following the tragedy, and all attendees will be offered refunds for their tickets. Travis Scott was set to play Vegas festival Day N Night on Saturday, November 13, but has pulled out as he is “too distraught to play”.