ISLANDN Friday (March 21) Secondary Ticketing Marketplace Stubhub filed for an preliminary public offer (IPO) with SEC that the company hopes it will appreciate it at $ 16.5 billion.
A pioneer in online ticket sales, Stubhub had “gross merchandise sales” (GMS)-or the total price paid for the transaction and fulfillment-$ 8.7 billion in 2024, an increase of 27% from 2023.
Revenue reached $ 1.77 billion in 2024, an increase of 29.4% from 2023, while net loss was $ 2.8 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), striping out non-cash expenses, was $ 298.7 million, dropped nearly 16% from $ 353.9 million in 2023. Long-term debt is $ 2.33 billion-nest eight times last year’s adjusted EBITDA.
Revenue from the IPO will primarily go against Stubhub’s debt, with the rest for general business purposes such as operating capital, operating expenses and capital expenses. Stubhub said it can use part of the proceeds for acquisitions or investments in products or technologies.
Stubhub believes it is a leader in secondary ticketing, according to his S-1-archiving on Friday. The company has also made a step to primary ticketing that generated more than $ 100 million in GMs in 2024. ”We believe that our value proposition, which provides expanded distribution and superior pricing information through an open distribution model, is well positioned to attract more content rights owners to use our direct issuing solution,” the company said.
Stubhub runs more business than most of its competitors. Vivid seats had gross transaction value (GTV) of $ 3.9 billion in 2024, while Eventbrite, a primary ticket platform, had GTV of $ 3.2 billion last year. Ticketmaster, who does not break out his primary and secondary tickets, had GTV of $ 34.7 billion.
Launched in 2000 of Erik BakerStubhub was acquired by eBay in 2007. Baker then launched a competing secondary ticket platform in Europe, Viagogo, which bought Stubhub in 2020. Prior to the IPO, Baker owns approximately 5% of Class A shares and 100% of Class B shares, leaving him with more than 90% of voting rights. Other large holders of Class A shares include Madrone Partners (27.1%), Westcap management (11.0%), Bessemer Venture Partners (9.6%), Pointstate Capital (5.6%) and Declaration Partners (5.3%).