StubHub is reportedly planning to become a publicly traded company, with a timeline that looks for an initial public offering by late summer, according to reports. Should the move take place, StubHub would join Vivid Seats (NASDAQ: SEAT) and Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) as publicly traded entities in the live event ticketing space.
According to a report from The Information (subscription required), StubHub has been quietly working towards the goal of going public for the past two years. It has been working with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, and has already confidentially filed paperwork with regulators.
Reportedly, StubHub is hoping to see a valuation of $16.5 billion, which matches a valuation that it saw in a 2021 fundraising round. Vivid Seats has a market cap of $1.2 billion, while Live Nation is valued at $24 billion, for comparison.
Further Reading | Vivid Seats merger Complete, Trading as SEAT on NASDAQ
SeatGeek had also considered a move public – to be achieved via a merger with an existing special purpose acquisition corporation – only to see that deal called off at the last minute. It saw a $1 billion valuation in a Series E funding round of its own in the fall of 2022. In the article, it is said that the company is also considering another attempt at going public in 2024.
Further Reading | SeatGeek, RedBall Terminate Merger Plans, Keep Ticket Company Private
Further Reading | SeatGeek Announces $238M Funding Round at $1B Valuation
StubHub has long been a key player in the ticketing ecosystem since its 2000 launch as ticket sale and resale went online. It was purchased by eBay for $310 million in 2007, and forged multiple partnerships with organizations and teams as ticket resale became mainstream. In 2019, viagogo – led by StubHub co-founder Eric Baker – purchased the company from eBay for more than $4 billion just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
StubHub has not issued any public statement regarding the report as of Friday afternoon.
