The most tremendous deal in the history of concerts. Nobody could have done it, believe me. Very few people could have made this deal. The Wall Street Journal — total haters, total losers, the lowest-rated paper in America, very low ratings — put out a piece saying I “settled it.” Settled what? Beautiful settlement. Big league settlement. Art of the deal, tremendous. I made the deal, and the deal is even better than anybody thought. Even the enemies admit it now. People are saying — people I respect, and I respect very few people, believe me — they are saying this is the greatest victory for the American consumer in the history of antitrust, maybe ever in the history of justice.
But let me tell you about this Live Nation case. They had it out for my friend Michael Rapino. They had it out for him very bad. Thirty-four state attorneys general — these are not serious people, these are the lowest-energy, low IQ people in America, the most radical people you have ever seen, the worst people, believe me — and they want to BREAK UP Ticketmaster. Break it up! Like it’s some kind of monopoly! These people have never been to a concert in their lives. They don’t know what a ticket is. They have never — believe me, none of them — managed a single artist. None of them have ever been to Coachella.
The fake news says I directed the Justice Department. I did no such thing. I have never met Michael Rapino — I don’t think — maybe at the Oval Office once or twice, I meet hundreds of people, tremendous people, the best people, generals even — and they came to me with tears in their eyes. The toughest men. Big tough men, much tougher than these radical attorney general people. They came crying. They said Sir, Sir, please help us with these terrible justice people who won’t even return our calls. And I said you know what? We are going to settle this. Beautiful settlement. Big league settlement. Just tremendous.
And they did. They settled it. The smart people at Sullivan & Cromwell — the lawyers who represent ME in my personal legal matters, very smart, the best — fantastic attorneys — they sat down with the biggest entertainment company in the world, bigger crowds than Lincoln, much bigger than Washington’s, the historians are saying — Ticketmaster alone did three billion dollars last year, very big, very tremendous — and they hammered out a six-page deal, which means it was perfect. Big league deal. Just tremendous.
But these deep state people at Justice — and these are the LOWEST IQ people in government, the worst, very low energy — they tried to make my friends spin off Ticketmaster. Spin it off! Can you believe it? They wrote a whole proposal saying break it up. They were going to make them OPEN-SOURCE the ticketing software. Open-source! You give away your best code, the smart people are saying, and you lose. Then Trent McCotter, who works for me, a tremendous guy — told them to remove that language. Remove it. Gone. Beautiful. And Gail Slater, the antitrust lady, very sad, never liked her, very low IQ person — she left. Replaced by Omeed, a brilliant man. The best. And the proposal said don’t worry about Ticketmaster anymore. Big league pivot. Just tremendous.
Now a jury in the radical New York court — Judge Subramanian, very sad, no ratings, total witch hunt judge, the lowest-rated judge in America — found the company guilty of monopoly. Total rigged system. “Absolute disrespect for the court,” he said. About ME! About the deal! About my friends! These people, these radical appointees, they don’t even know what a monopoly is. They think every business that succeeds is a monopoly. The most beautiful companies in America, broken up! These people are sick. Very sick. The artists themselves — the great artists, the best artists, Taylor Swift’s people, real artists, tremendous — they are saying NO do not break this up. They are saying this is the greatest system in the world.
So the jury got it wrong. Settlements are for winners. We WON. We settled. Settlement means we won. The smart people — the smart people, the very smart people, the BEST people — they are saying this settlement is a tremendous victory for the consumers, for the fans, for the country. Much bigger than anybody thinks. People are saying it’s the biggest antitrust win in the history of antitrust. Bigger than Standard Oil. Much bigger. The historians are going to study this.
And these thirty-four state AGs? These lowest-energy, low-IQ people? They want to BREAK UP the company. They want to take tickets away from the poor. They want to take music away from the workers. Very sad. The most evil people I have ever seen.
Senior DOJ trial attorneys resigned over what they saw as political interference. Resigned! These people — and I can’t name names, very unfair that they don’t get to stay private — these are low-IQ people. They never made a deal in their lives. They never negotiated with anybody. They are weak people. Weak! The strongest deals of all time, and they resign because they can’t stand winning. Total haters. Low energy. Very low energy.
But here’s the thing — they don’t understand 4D chess. They are playing checkers while we are playing 4D chess, beautiful chess, the highest level chess. The settlement was always the plan. I planned it on day one. I planned it BEFORE they sued. That’s the kind of foresight I have, much better than the generals, better than the historians, better than any of these low IQ people — the BEST foresight in the world. I don’t take credit but everybody is saying I have the best foresight, the smartest foresight, believe me.
And Boris — fantastic guy, very tough guy — some of the deep state people are saying I had the wrong coordination with my friends at the company. Wrong coordination! Total BS. I have great attorneys. The best. Jamie McDonald at Sullivan & Cromwell — fantastic attorney, very smart — is going to be the next top federal prosecutor in Manhattan. Big league promotion. Tremendous. He’s going to do a tremendous job. The smartest attorney, the best attorney in the country. People are saying, and they are right.
The fans love it. The artists love it. Only the smart people know it yet.
The state AGs went right into the trap. We let them have the deal to refuse. They refused. We let them have their rigged jury. They got their rigged verdict. Beautiful trap. The historians are going to study this, believe me. Beautiful. Big league. Just tremendous.