Michael Rapino took the stand in Manhattan today.
The Live Nation CEO had a simple answer for a lot of questions:
I don’t know.
The 2016 email where he admitted fees were too high? “I don’t remember that.”
The Slack messages where employees joke about robbing fans blind? “I only learned about them last week.”
The service fee increases over the past five years? “I don’t know.”
The total cost to fans: probably gone up, but…
Must be nice to be a CEO of a company with a market cap in the billions. You get a nine-figure compensation to not know about stuff.
If anyone is looking for a new CEO, I’ll do this for 8 figures…mid-eight figures.
I’ve got standards.
One admission that matters:
Rapino admitted that 90% of his compensation comes from cash bonuses and stock grants tied to performance targets.
Including a “regulatory affairs” goal set by the board.
Hold on a second…
What might they want?
I’m just a simple country boy…but wouldn’t that imply that his pay was tied to making the antitrust case go away?
Let’s connect the dots.
The CEO doesn’t know about the Slack messages. Doesn’t remember the email where he said fees can’t be defended. Can’t tell you about fee increases. Not sure about total costs.
Does he know that making the government case go away will get him PAID?!
The Live Nation employee who joked about “robbing them blind baby” and called fans “so stupid?”
Rapino called those comments “disgusting.”
Two things matter:
- Rapino didn’t know about the comments until last week.
- Rapino hasn’t taken any action against these “disgusting” comments.
“We don’t fire easily,” Rapino explained.
Hmmm…
The employee remains employed. The system remains unchanged. The behavior is rewarded…even if that isn’t stated explicitly.
In strategy, actions speak louder than words. Not what you say…what you do.
The states asked about Live Nation’s ban on folding chairs at amphitheaters.
What was free…now costs you $15.
That’s added $7 million to Live Nation’s bottom line.
Kessler: “You don’t think that’s outrageous?”
Rapino: “No, I don’t think it is. The price of the lawn has been reduced dramatically.”
He added that it’s a “safety issue.”
$7 million worth of safety, yeah.
But cool because the prices of the lawn have been “reduced dramatically.”
Can’t find the numbers to back that up…but, trust me, bro…I guess.
Rapino doesn’t know about fees. Doesn’t remember emails. Can’t tell us about prices.
I’m curious if he knows about that bonus for solving the DOJ problem…just me?
Shrug emoji.
It must be cool to know so little about something worth so much.
What in the world is going on here?