Vivid Seats courting buyers

The Chicago-based secondary ticketer is reportedly valued by chief investor Vista Equity Partners at $1.5bn

By IQ on 27 Mar 2017

image © Vivid Seats

Vista Equity Partners, the parent company of Vivid Seats, is reportedly seeking a buyer for the US secondary ticketing site.

Chicago-based Vivid, founded in 2001, lists tickets for sporting events, concerts and theatre shows in the US and Canada. According to TechCrunch, Vista – which acquired Vivid Seats for US$850 million last January – values the company at around $1.5 billion.

Vivid is believed to be the third-largest secondary ticket outlet in the US, behind StubHub and Ticketmaster.

TechCrunch suggests potential buyers include tech companies – although Amazon and Priceline have apparently already considered, and ruled out, an acquisition – and rival private-equity firms such as Carlyle Group.

Vista also holds majority stakes in several event-management companies, including Active Network and Cvent, the latter of which it acquired for $1.65bn – considered by some to be undervalued – last April.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.