On Friday (March 21), secondary ticketing market StubHub filed for an preliminary public providing (IPO) with the SEC that the corporate hopes will worth it at $16.5 billion.
A pioneer in on-line ticket re-selling, StubHub had “gross merchandise gross sales” (GMS) — or the overall value clients paid for the transaction and achievement — of $8.7 billion in 2024, a 27% enhance from 2023. For the 12 months, it offered greater than 40 million tickets from greater than 1 million distinctive sellers throughout 200 international locations and territories.
Income reached $1.77 billion in 2024, up 29.4% from 2023, whereas internet loss was $2.8 million. Adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which strips out non-cash bills, was $298.7 million, down practically 16% from $353.9 million in 2023. Lengthy-term debt stands at $2.33 billion — practically eight occasions final 12 months’s adjusted EBITDA.
Proceeds from the IPO will primarily go towards StubHub’s debt, with the rest going towards basic company functions corresponding to working capital, working bills and capital bills. StubHub stated it could use a portion of the proceeds for acquisitions or investments in merchandise or applied sciences.
StubHub believes it’s the chief in secondary ticketing, in line with its S-1 submitting on Friday. The corporate has additionally made a foray into major ticketing, which generated greater than $100 million in GMS in 2024. “We imagine our price proposition, offering broadened distribution and superior pricing intelligence by an open distribution mannequin, is well-positioned to draw extra content material rights holders to make use of our direct issuance resolution,” the corporate said within the submitting.
StubHub does extra enterprise than most of its opponents. Vivid Seats had gross transaction worth (GTV) of $3.9 billion in 2024 whereas Eventbrite, a major ticketing platform, had GTV of $3.2 billion final 12 months. Ticketmaster, which doesn’t get away its major and secondary ticketing, had GTV of $34.7 billion.
Launched in 2000 by Erik Baker, StubHub was acquired by eBay in 2007. Baker then launched a competing secondary ticketing platform in Europe, Viagogo, which bought StubHub in 2020. Forward of the IPO, Baker owns roughly 5% of Class A shares and 100% of Class B shares, leaving him with greater than 90% of the voting rights. Different main holders of Class A shares embrace Madrone Companions (27.1%), WestCap Administration (11.0%), Bessemer Enterprise Companions (9.6%), PointState Capital (5.6%) and Declaration Companions (5.3%).
