(Bloomberg) — This time it isn’t live performance tickets Eric Baker is promoting. It’s shares of StubHub Holdings Inc., the corporate he co-founded and has owned on and off for 1 / 4 century.
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The 51-year-old chief government officer filed on Friday for a public itemizing of shares within the enterprise, which generated adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $299 million on gross sales $1.77 billion final yr. The corporate bought greater than 40 million tickets in 2024.
Baker holds 5.2% of the Class A shares and, along with his Class B shares that carry 100 votes every, has greater than 90% of the voting energy within the firm earlier than the providing, in keeping with the submitting. That can enable him to regulate the corporate, StubHub mentioned. Pricing for the shares and valuation of the enterprise weren’t disclosed. Proceeds will likely be used to scale back debt and spend money on the enterprise.
The previous McKinsey & Co. and Bain Capital staffer began StubHub in 2000, with Jeff Fluhr, a classmate from Stanford College. The concept got here to Baker when he was attempting to attain tickets to a sold-out displaying of The Lion King on Broadway, in keeping with the submitting.
The pair appeared to take the resale of live performance and sports activities tickets out of the palms of scalpers in darkish alleys and parking tons and convey them into the web age.
StubHub lets ticket holders record their seats on the location totally free, and collects charges from each the customer and vendor if there’s a transaction. It’s a enterprise that continuously earns the ire of customers as the worth for well-liked occasions can soar into the hundreds of {dollars}.
However the service has received some loyal customers as a result of it ensures the tickets are professional, one thing that’s not the case if negotiating a sale immediately with one other individual.
Different on-line ticket resellers emerged in StubHub’s wake. Ticketmaster, a division of Dwell Nation Leisure Inc. and the chief in main ticket gross sales for arenas and live performance excursions, began its personal foray into the secondary market.
After Baker and Fluhr clashed over the route of the enterprise, StubHub was bought to eBay Inc. in 2007 for $310 million. Baker based Viagogo, an analogous enterprise in London, and raised funds from buyers together with Index Ventures and Bessemer Enterprise Companions.