StubHub kicked off its long-anticipated trip back to public markets on Monday, launching the roadshow for an initial public offering that could value the ticket marketplace at up to $9.2 billion. If successful, the IPO will launch StubHub on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading under the symbol STUB.
The ticketing marketplace has twice moved forward with plans to go public in recent years, only to call them off amid poor market conditions. In 2023, “stagnant market conditions” were cited as it paused plans to go public with a target valuation of $16.5 billion. Earlier this year, the company once again paused IPO plans due to market volatility caused by the Trump administation’s chaotic tariff rollout/rollbacks.
StubHub’s plans come fresh on the heels of the company’s announcement of a “Direct Issuance” pact with Major League Baseball, which will enable distribution of primary tickets via StubHub and other authorized marketplaces beginning with the 2026 season.
StubHub’s planned IPO terms
- Shares: 34,042,553 Class A shares, with a 30-day option for underwriters to buy up to an additional 5,106,382 shares
- Price range: $22–$25 per share
- Ticker/Exchange: STUB on the NYSE
- Lead underwriters: J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs; additional bookrunners include BofA Securities, Evercore ISI, BMO Capital Markets, Mizuho, TD Cowen, Truist, and Wolfe | Nomura Alliance; co-managers include Citizens, Oppenheimer, Wedbush, and PNC Capital Markets
These specifics were disclosed in StubHub’s announcement Monday morning.
Reuters reports the pricing implies proceeds of up to $851 million and a valuation as high as $9.2 billion, positioning StubHub as a key consumer-facing test of investor appetite in a tech-heavy fall IPO window.
Why this matters
- Primary-ticket access on multi-marketplaces: MLB’s direct issuance tie-up formalizes a model where “primary” inventory can flow to multiple marketplaces (including StubHub) rather than living behind a single gate — a sharp contrast to the concert space, where exclusive distribution on Ticketmaster/AXS remains common. The MLB partnership is slated to roll out before 2026 Opening Day.
- More disclosure on a major player: A public listing would increase visibility into StubHub’s performance and strategy at a time when pricing, fees, and marketplace competition are hot-button issues across live entertainment. Our prior coverage noted that StubHub revived IPO preparations in August after pausing the deal in April amid tariff-driven market volatility; earlier ambitions pointed to a valuation around $16.5B before the spring slowdown.
StubHub, co-founded in 2000 and combined with viagogo in 2020, sold more than 40 million tickets across 200+ countries in 2024, according to Reuters. Monday’s launch arrives as equity markets re-open to consumer-adjacent names after months dominated by crypto and infrastructure-software IPOs.
If successful, “STUB” would become the the second major secondary ticketing stock in the U.S., following Vivid Seats’ IPO in 2021. SEAT stock has been battered in recent months, with the company executing a 1-for-20 reverse split earlier this year. It is currently trading at $15.47, well off its 52-week high of $100.
SeatGeek – which began as a secondary ticketing marketplace agregator but has since pivoted to compete for primary distribution deals – also announced plans to go public in 2023, but paused those plans amid the same market conditions that caused StubHub’s wait.
