StubHub, one of many largest ticket resale marketplaces within the trade, has filed for an preliminary public providing, in line with an SEC submitting the corporate submitted on Friday.
Per the S-1 submitting reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, StubHub has utilized for itemizing on the NYSE, buying and selling beneath the image “STUB.” The corporate didn’t disclose the variety of shares it is going to be promoting. StubHub reported a $2.8 million internet loss final yr on $1.77 billion in income final yr, the submitting stated, in comparison with greater than $405 million in revenue in 2023 on about $1.37 billion in income.
The corporate was based 25 years in the past by CEO Eric Baker. Baker left the corporate when it bought to eBay again in 2007, finally founding Viagogo, one other secondary ticket vendor. Viagogo bought StubHub again in 2019, reuniting Baker along with his outdated firm. StubHub had been rumored to be readying an IPO for months. The corporate stated it bought greater than 40 million tickets final yr, with one million distinctive sellers on the platform.
StubHub’s mannequin relies round customers reselling tickets to live shows, main sporting occasions and different stay ticketed occasions, with the corporate incomes income most instantly by way of charges it collects from purchases and gross sales on its platform set based mostly on the value of the ticket. StubHub’s enterprise is subsequently very depending on demand. In an excessive instance, Taylor Swift’s wildly in style Eras tour, for instance, raised StubHub’s gross merchandise by 14 p.c all by itself in 2023, per the submitting.
{The marketplace} for live performance tickets specifically has been a supply of great frustration for followers in recent times (most instantly towards Ticketmaster, although additionally at StubHub and different secondary platforms) with ticket consumers bemoaning the charges, excessive costs and scalpers gouging followers after beating them for tickets. Washington, D.C.’s legal professional basic filed a lawsuit in opposition to StubHub final yr over allegations of predatory pricing ways.
Regardless of the anger and sticker shock, gross sales for superstars’ excursions have remained robust in recent times, although some insiders have braced for a weaker yr citing a tightened financial system, alon with a number of main artists having to cancel excursions in 2024 over weak gross sales. Nonetheless, in StubHub’s submitting the corporate stated it expects customers will proceed to be “prioritizing stay occasions and experiences over product” with their disposable earnings.
“We consider the irreplaceable function that collective experiences play in fostering human connection will proceed to speed up and solidify the draw of, and demand for, stay occasions within the years to come back,” StubHub stated in its submitting.
