StubHub’s public debut did not produce a first-day pop, but the milestone concluded one of ticketing’s most unlikely comeback arcs.
Shares opened at $23.50 and closed down roughly 6%, still giving the company an apparent market value north of $7 billion. For the chief executive, Eric Baker, the listing amounted to the end of a quest that has included an ouster and reinvention; a high-stakes buyback from his co-founder; a global shutdown of live events; and a ferocious rebound fueled by blockbuster tours.
From a classroom idea to co-founder exile at StubHub
Baker co-founded StubHub with Jeff Fluhr while the two were students at Stanford’s business school. The idea was straightforward and, for the time, radical: establish a reliable, transparent market to resell tickets that protects fans who want to sell those tickets and those who wish to buy them. The early years were rough, but a wave of rivals disappeared as the dot-com shakeout cleared the field.
Then came the fracture. A dispute over tactics led Baker to leave the company that he helped create. Getting pushed out did not dampen his belief that secondary ticketing could be vaster, more global and more consumer-friendly than the industry admitted.
Viagogo’s rise and the long road to a StubHub reunion
After leaving, Baker moved to London and founded Viagogo with the intention of bringing StubHub’s model to Europe and beyond. Expanding into new markets meant negotiating patchwork regulations, cutthroat politics around ticket resale and the rapidly changing economics of live entertainment. It also returned Baker to the arena, this time on the international stage.
Regulators took notice. In Britain, competition officials called for more transparency around fees, seat information and refund policies on resale platforms. Those pressures helped to form the playbook Baker would eventually return to StubHub with: a clearer set of disclosures and stronger consumer protections to win trust at scale.
Buying back StubHub on the eve of crisis
And when eBay was getting ready to sell StubHub, Baker pounced. He brought the brand back under his own leadership in a $4.05 billion deal, with backing from WestCap, Madrone Capital Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. The timing seemed perfect — until the live events industry was virtually shut down overnight.
Revenue disappeared as concerts and games vanished. StubHub drew public outcry at first for shifting from cash refunds to credits, earning the attention of state attorneys general before restoring broader refunds. Survival depended on cutting costs, performing operational triage and resetting policies to meet consumer expectations in a once-in-a-century downturn.
There was also structural change. British regulators also forced through a separation of the international business that came with the deal, leaving the core platform more highly concentrated in North America. It wasn’t the integration Baker once envisioned, but it removed a huge antitrust roadblock and enabled the company to refocus on execution.
A rebound fueled by blockbuster tours and record demand
Demand roared back as stadiums reopened. The marketplace of StubHub soared on mega-events like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour and the Super Bowl — cultural events that made ticketing a headline sport. Live Nation reported record attendance of more than 145 million fans in its most recent full year, a rising tide that lifted resellers as well.
Growth continued into the latest reported quarter, according to StubHub’s S-1, with revenue increasing by 10% to $397.6 million compared with the prior-year period. Fee transparency and all-in pricing options have become cornerstones of the company, as the consumer advocates and U.S. regulators joined in a crackdown on so-called junk fees across the industry more generally. Those moves, as politically delicate as they are, also underscore resellers’ central differentiator: trust.
Ownership, control dynamics and StubHub’s next big tests
Baker’s control is not absolute. He owns about 4.7% of the company, according to the S-1, with key backers Madrone Capital Partners, WestCap and Bessemer Venture Partners owning approximately 24.5%, 12.3% and 8.8%. That balance of founder control and institutional capital will determine how aggressively StubHub can pursue growth vs. profits, marketing vs. product investment, and high fees vs. consumer goodwill.
What comes next? Several fault lines are worth watching. Regulatory risk is still high, from pricing transparency to the boundaries of speculative listings. Competition is fluid as primary ticketing companies have pushed dynamic pricing and official resale, which closes the gap with pure-play marketplaces. And macro swings in discretionary spending can transform surging demand into a sudden chill.
But you have to keep in mind that, in a certain way, the listing alone is the point. Twenty years after co-founding StubHub, then leaving it, building a rival to it, and buying back the entity on the brink of disaster, Baker brought to fruition the public company he’d longed for. The road was circuitous. The lesson is a simple one: on stage as in ticketing, timing and persistence can be everything.