People walk outside of a StubHub storefront operation in New York (Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
StubHub Files for IPO, Claims 30% Revenue Growth in 2024
StubHub, the longtime online marketplace for ticket resale, filed paperwork Friday for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “STUB.”
According to its prospectus, the company reported a net loss of $2.8 million on $1.77 billion in revenue for 2024. That compares with a $405 million profit on $1.37 billion in revenue in 2023.
Founded in 2000, StubHub was purchased by eBay for $310 million in 2007, then reacquired in 2020 by co-founder Eric Baker for $4 billion through his new company, Viagogo. StubHub’s filing says more than 40 million tickets were sold on the platform last year from roughly one million sellers.
The company had previously considered an IPO in 2023, shelving those plans amid stagnant market conditions. Its potential offering arrives at a time when the IPO market appears to be gaining steam following a prolonged slowdown that began in early 2022. Rumors began circulating earlier in March that StubHub’s plans to go public had resumed.
Within the competitive landscape, SeatGeek has also been rumored to be eyeing a public listing. Bloomberg reported in June that Citigroup and Wells Fargo were involved with SeatGeek’s potential debut. Other StubHub rivals include Vivid Seats, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, and Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster.
No date has been set for StubHub’s IPO, but the company’s decision to file indicates optimism that market conditions have sufficiently improved to support new stock offerings. The final pricing and share count will be determined closer to the offering date, pending regulatory review and investor demand.
