StubHub CEO backs Trump's effort to end ticket price gouging
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StubHub on Tuesday night raised $800 million in its IPO, pricing at the midpoint of its $22 to $25 per share range.
- That gives the ticket resale giant an $8.5 billion initial market cap, although that may climb when shares begin trading today on the NYSE under the ticker "STUB."
Axios spoke with StubHub co-founder and CEO Eric Baker about the IPO the business, and President Trump's efforts to end ticket price gouging. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation:
Axios: Why go public now?
Baker: "It's really about raising proceeds to deleverage, since we took on a lot of debt when [Viagogo] bought StubHub. For example, I'm not selling any shares.
- We flipped our S-1 just before 'Liberation Day' hit, at which point everyone hit pause, so we've been ready to go for a while."
What did you keep hearing from prospective investors on the roadshow?
"A lot of people are very excited about us doing direct issuance, like the deal we just signed with Major League Baseball. Everyone knows we're the dominant platform for global ticket resale, so they're interested in the next phase."
How much growth are you seeing from events outside of concerts and sports?
"Concerts and sports are huge, but we're seeing so many other experiences. For example, the University of Oklahoma created something where you can buy tickets to [postgame] press conferences. There are also all sorts of exhibits and live gaming. Plus, the growth of comedy through platforms like YouTube."
President Trump recently signed an executive order on ticket gouging. It's not mentioned in your S-1. Do you agree with what he's doing?
"Yes. If you look at the executive order, it has three planks:
- The first is pricing transparency. The second is stopping bots. We publicly lobbied for both of those. The third is making sure there's no anticompetitive behavior, like what DOJ is looking at the Live Nation and Ticketmaster."
Ticketmaster is a big reseller, in addition to being the top primary issuer. How do you view the regulatory resolution of that situation, vis-à-vis Stubhub?
"Everything we focus on doing assumes that nothing changes with the status quo ... If anything were to change, I'd assume there would be a lot of positive developments for us."
You mentioned the bots issue. When I go to buy tickets for an event, it feels like face value ones last for less than five minutes, and then suddenly, there are hundreds immediately on StubHub at very high prices. Isn't that a bot issue?
"I think many of the problems with major events often have nothing to do with bots, but rather the failures of how tickets are put up for sale by the primary seller."
