Eventbrite (NYSE: EB) released its Q3 2021 earnings report late last week, with the numbers indicating that the live events industry is continuing to rebound from the COVID-induced damage of 2020. The company reported revenues of $53.4 million, which was a 144% increase from the same quarter in 2020.
“The momentum around the resurgence of live events was evident in the third quarter of 2021, as our creators continued to welcome back eager audiences. In this dynamic environment, Eventbrite supported over a quarter million creators as they found new and creative ways to connect with audiences to drive strong paid ticket volume for the quarter. Our results reflected this positive trend as well as ongoing benefits from our refocused strategy and scalable business model,” said Julia Hartz, Eventbrite co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Looking ahead, our focus remains on delivering sustainable growth and improving returns as we invest in innovative products and solutions that address creators’ needs ahead of a full return to live experiences.”
In its earnings shareholder letter, the company indicated that it experienced a net loss of $17 million in the quarter, which was a reduction of $2 million from the loss experienced in Q3 of 2020 ($19M). It showed an adjusted EBITDA of $6 million on $19 million in paid tickets through its system. It boasted 259,000 creators on its platform, with 28 million buyers for events – both paid and free – it hosted.
The company also said it anticipates continued improvement in its operations and performance through the end of the year and into 2022 as the reopening of in-person events continues, but indicated that it would continue operating cautiously given the uncertainty that covid variants brings to the table even with increasing vaccination across the U.S.
In its summary, Hartz and CFO Lanny Barker took an optimistic tack on the difficulties the company has faced amid the pandemic and its current trajectory:
We are immensely proud of the accomplishments of the third quarter and we are excited to build on our momentum. Having reinforced our self-service platform with tools and features that make it easier for creators to ticket and manage events, we plan to shift more of our resources and focus toward amplifying our marketing and demand generation capabilities. A clear sense of creators’ needs guides our accelerating product development, and we believe that our data and scale can be advantages for the millions of creators and attendees that rely on Eventbrite as their trusted partner for live events.
From our perspective at the vanguard of the live experiences economy, we firmly believe that secular tailwinds are poised to reinvent and reinvigorate the industry landscape in the coming years. Work-life balances are shifting, meaningful experiences are favored ahead of possessions, and local communities and personal passions are becoming integral to how we prioritize our event calendars. We believe that as the world changes, the importance of live events will endure and our creators will continually evolve to meet the needs of the moment. Our goal is to remain at the forefront of this innovative tide, continuing to craft the best platform for independent and frequent creators, and delivering accretive long-term growth and sustainable value for our shareholders.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Eventbrite (NYSE: EB) stock was trading at approximately $21 per share. That number is up from a low of just over $16 a share in mid-August as the Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy removed some of the optimism of a rapid return to full scale for live and in-person events that had seen the stock pushed to as high as $24 a share in late spring. At the lowest point in March of 2020, company stock had dipped to below $6 a share briefly before spending much of the summer hoving between $8-10 and climbing with news of successful vaccine trials and deployment into the fall and winter.
A transcript of the Eventbrite earnings call is available on Seeking Alpha
The Eventbrite shareholder letter is available here (PDF, opens in new window)
