Ticketmaster cuts around 350 jobs, 8% of global workforce, in engineering, product and design restructuring (report)

Ticketmaster has cut around 350 employees across 25 countries, representing 8% of its global workforce, primarily in its engineering, product, and design divisions.

That’s according to Pollstar, which reported on Wednesday (May 6) that the Live Nation-owned ticketing giant also reduced contractors as part of the restructuring.

The company’s executive leadership team has not changed, according to the report.

“The purpose of [these cuts] is stronger prioritization, especially in engineering product and design,” Saumil Mehta, Ticketmaster Global President, told Pollstar.

“That comes with flattening layers, consolidating ownership, changing how teams are structured and ensuring that we put more energy behind specific initiatives.

“We’re going to keep investing in specific areas so that we can actually achieve the vision we laid out.”

Mehta joined Ticketmaster as Global President in November 2025, succeeding Mark Yovich, who moved to a Chairman role.

He was previously Chief Product Officer and Head of Business Org at Square, where he spent over nine years helping scale products across Cash App, Afterpay and TIDAL.

According to Pollstar, Mehta presented his vision for Ticketmaster‘s future on April 15 during a keynote at the Pollstar Live! conference, where he outlined plans to optimize the ticket-buying experience through new technologies, including AI, which he described as a “new utility.”

“What I learned over the last 10 years, which I’m trying to apply to Ticketmaster, is how to engage with commerce at scale, how to move billions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions all over the world between buyers and sellers, how to fight bad actors, fraud… and, most importantly, how to take a technology-first approach to problem solving, especially in the age of AI,” Mehta said during his Pollstar Live! presentation.

News of the layoffs came a day after Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster‘s parent company, reported Q1 2026 earnings showing total revenue up 12% year-over-year to $3.8 billion.

Ticketmaster revenues were up 10% YoY to $765 million in the quarter, while total fee-bearing tickets transacted through the end of April rose 9% YoY to 138 million.

Asked about the timing of the cuts, Mehta told Pollstar that his team is focused on future growth, not past performance.

“To me the strong performance reflects the past and this is about what are we doing to set ourselves up for the earnings report 12 months from now, 18 months from now, 24 months from now,” he said.

“This is about, how do we prioritize? How do we invest? How do we simplify ownership? How do we have the right skill mix and how do we set ourselves up for the future?”

Separately, Live Nation continues to navigate significant legal challenges.

In April, a federal jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized the US ticketing and amphitheater markets, handing a victory to a coalition of 33 states and the District of Columbia that pressed the landmark antitrust case to trial.

That verdict followed a March settlement with the US Department of Justice that allowed Live Nation to retain ownership of Ticketmaster, but included a $280 million damages fund, a 15% cap on service fees and divestiture of 13 amphitheater booking agreements.

Live Nation reported a $450 million legal accrual in Q1 tied to the settlement and ongoing state-level litigation, swinging the company to a reported operating loss of $371 million.Music Business Worldwide