Vivid Seats eyes up potential StubHub sale

Chicago-based secondary ticketing company Vivid Seats is among parties interested in acquiring StubHub from e-commerce giant Ebay, Bloomberg reports.

In July, IQ reported that Ebay was moving forward with the potential sale of StubHub, which it bought for US$310 million in 2007, with “multiple” parties showing interest.

The e-commerce platform announced a review of the secondary site’s “role and value”, after reportedly receiving pressure from investor Elliott Management to separate from the ticketer.

Now, it has been revealed “by people familiar with the matter”, that fellow secondary site, Vivid Seats, is among those in the running to buy StubHub, for what is believed to be as much as $3 billion. Buyout firm KKR & Co has also reportedly shown interest.

Backed by private equity firms GTCR and Vista Equity Partners, Vivid Seats recently made its first acquisition, buying ticket distributor Fanxchange, in a deal worth $65m. Vista is believed to value the company at around $1.5bn.

According to the International Ticketing Yearbook 2018, StubHub and Vivid Seats are among the United States’ four biggest secondary market players, along with Ticketmaster and SeatGeek. All four also operate in the primary sector.

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