Ticketmaster has furloughed hundreds of employees across multiple offices in North America, marking the first major employment cuts at the Live Nation-owned concert company in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
The company is considering additional cost saving measures, Billboard has learned, as it analyzes the possibility of having little to no revenue in 2020.
The furloughs caught some employees by surprise who said they were given assurances on multiple calls that the company would do everything it could to avoid cutting staff.
But officials at Live Nation said the furloughs were only temporary and part of a series of cost-cutting measures announced in an April 13 filing with the SEC that outlined the company's plans to save $500 million.