Ticketmaster Hires Square Veteran as Global President to Lead AI Transformation

Ticketmaster is entering one of the most consequential chapters in its history — and it’s doing so under new leadership.

Effective Nov. 1, Saumil Mehta will assume the role of global president at Ticketmaster, reporting directly to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino.

The move marks a generational leadership shift at the global ticketing powerhouse which has spent the past year navigating mounting legal challenges from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

Mehta, a longtime product innovator and former chief product officer and head of business org at Square, succeeds Mark Yovich, who has led Ticketmaster since 2020 and now moves into a new role as chairman, focused on the company’s long-term strategy and global growth. The hire is the latest example of Rapino’s effort to triage the company’s legal problems so that leadership can focus on big-picture technology goals and building promoter and consumer tools around AI technological advances.

“Ticketmaster is an incredible business that serves as the world’s portal to the best live entertainment,” Mehta said in a statement. “The real opportunity lies in how we evolve the experience — building smarter and more intuitive ways for fans to connect with the live experiences that matter so much to them.”

Mehta’s appointment reflects a strategic shift toward technology leadership at a time when the company’s systems — both digital and structural — are under a microscope.

Before joining Ticketmaster, Mehta spent nine years at Square, helping build and scale products used by millions of small businesses worldwide. He also founded the marketing automation startup LocBox, which was acquired by Square in 2015. Over the past six months, Mehta has served as an advisor and investor in several AI startups — experience he now plans to bring directly into Ticketmaster’s next phase.

Under his leadership, the company plans to accelerate its AI transformation, with applications ranging from venue management and fraud detection to customer personalization, with an aim to reinvent how fans discover, purchase and experience live events.

“Saumil brings a fresh perspective and deep product and technology expertise that will help us build on that momentum,” Rapino said.

Yovich, who replaced longtime CEO Jared Smith in 2020 and steered Ticketmaster through the pandemic’s aftermath and global expansion into new markets, will continue to play a key role as chairman, focusing on international growth and innovation.

The leadership change comes as Ticketmaster faces the most aggressive regulatory scrutiny in its five-decade history. In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, joined by 30 state attorneys general, filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit accusing Live Nation Entertainment — Ticketmaster’s parent company — of monopolizing the live concert and ticketing industry.

Live Nation has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless,” but legal experts agree that the DOJ’s request for structural relief — including the potential breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster — represents the most serious challenge to the company’s business model since their 2010 merger.

The case is expected to enter discovery later this year and could stretch well into 2026.

Adding to the pressure, the Federal Trade Commission filed a separate suit in September 2025, accusing Ticketmaster and Live Nation of deceptive business practices and violations of the BOTS Act.

According to the FTC, the company misled consumers through “bait-and-switch” pricing and failed to enforce purchase limits on professional resellers that allegedly boosted profits while inflating prices for fans.

The FTC is seeking billions in civil penalties, along with injunctive relief that could force the company to revamp its fee structures and broker relationships.

If that weren’t enough, Ticketmaster recently suffered a major legal defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the company’s appeal in a long-running consumer antitrust case.

The dispute centered on whether Ticketmaster could force fans into private arbitration through its digital ticketing terms of service — a process critics say shields the company from accountability. In October, the Court declined to review the lower court’s decision, meaning the case can now proceed as a class-action lawsuit in federal court.

The ruling effectively dismantles a key pillar of Ticketmaster’s legal defense strategy: keeping consumer claims out of public litigation.

For Live Nation and Ticketmaster, Mehta’s arrival signals both renewal and reckoning. His background in AI, automation and user experience could be instrumental as the company attempts to modernize its technology — and perhaps its image — under mounting public and political pressure.

Internally, sources say the company has accelerated its work on “smarter” ticketing systems that identify bots, reduce fraud and provide greater transparency for fans. Externally, it faces a shifting regulatory environment that could redefine the balance of power across the entire live music business.

In short: Mehta inherits a company that remains the undisputed market leader — but one whose dominance is now both its greatest asset and its greatest liability.