StubHub, the San Francisco-based online ticket exchange, set an IPO price of $23.50 a share. This latest pricing values the company at a staggering $8.6 billion. This pricing is the high end of the range provided in last week’s notice of expected pricing range. The decision to move forward with the IPO follows a previous delay in April, attributed to market uncertainties caused by President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Originally co-founded by Eric Baker in 2000, StubHub has seen a lot of change since then. The move paid off, and the company was eventually acquired by eBay for $310 million. In 2020, Baker bought back StubHub for about $4 billion with his new firm, Viagogo. This shrewd maneuver put Baker in position to take StubHub back to the public markets.
Financially speaking, StubHub clocked in an operating income of $26.8 million for the recently completed second quarter. The rapidly growing company was growing an ever-widening net loss. It skyrocketed to $35.9 million, an increase from $29.7 million last fiscal year. This somewhat contradictory financial picture demonstrates the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of StubHub as it heads into what is likely a very different post-pandemic ticketing world.
StubHub’s IPO timing is particularly curious. The news comes just a week after Swedish rival Klarna made a triumphant debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Perhaps most importantly, analysts will be watching the effect of StubHub’s debut on public capital markets investor sentiment towards technology-driven ticketing solutions.
StubHub has struggled of late amid market volatility and intense competition in the ticketing industry. It remains the biggest actor in the market. The grocery giant hasn’t missed a beat with its ongoing pivot away from legacy business practices in order to keep pace with changing consumer and market demand.