Live Nation's CEO, Michael Rapino, and his company have been hit with a proposed multi-million-dollar class action following a data breach earlier this year.
Back in May, a hacking group named ShinyHunters broke into the database of Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation, mining 1.3 terabytes of information, including personal and credit card information of about 560 million customers.
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By June, the company confirmed in a federal filing with the SEC that it was actively investigating the breach, despite having knowledge of it at the time it occurred. The class action accuses Live Nation and Ticketmaster of negligent behavior, allowing hackers to run rampant, and failing to alert users that their personal data had been compromised.
Who is Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation?
Michael Rapino has been the CEO and president of the company for almost two decades. Under his leadership, the brand has executed operations in over 40 countries, generating an annual revenue of over $10 billion.
In 2010, he championed the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, culminating in what we know today as a $10 billion entity. Furthermore, he sits on the Board of Directors at Sirius XM Holdings.
According to the official website, it was under Rapino's guidance that the company invested in major music festivals like Insomniac, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Lollapalooza. By 2017, he championed yet another major move: the acquisition of Salt Lake City-based United Concerts, Napa's Bottlerock Festival, and Blue Note Entertainment.
With an impressive portfolio, one of his achievements includes leading the company's investment in RedRock Entertainment Services, a production company that oversees massive live events and similar projects.
Additionally, during his tenure, the company secured signed deals with giants like Taylor Swift and Jay-Z, allowing Live Nation to manage their tours.
By 2016, Rapino ventured into film and television, launching Live Nation Productions. As the executive producer of several notable music-related films, including the Imagine Dragons documentary Believer, Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids, and the 2019 Golden Globe nominee A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, he set the company apart.
He has received several accolades, such as being named No. 1 on the Billboard Power 100 in 2018 and making it to the Los Angeles Business Journal's LA 500 the same year. In 2017, he was listed on the Forbes list of Global Game Changers and the Variety500 list of top business leaders in the entertainment industry.
In his personal life, Michael Rapino lives in LA with his wife, Jolene, and their three boys.
The suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster was filed on Friday in California federal court and seeks unspecified damages of about $55 million on behalf of the millions of users whose data was compromised. The company is among many targets of cyberattacks this year, joining the likes of Disney, Roku, and AT&T.
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