EBay to Sell StubHub to Viagogo for Roughly $4 Billion -- 2nd Update
November 25 2019 - 10:16AM
Dow Jones News
By Cara Lombardo and Corrie Driebusch
EBay Inc. reached a deal to sell its StubHub ticketing business
to Swiss ticket reseller Viagogo Entertainment Inc. for $4.05
billion in cash.
EBay has owned StubHub since 2007 when it bought the business
for $310 million. StubHub, one of the most popular platforms to buy
and sell tickets to concerts, sports and other events, accounted
for about 14% of the company's revenue in the third quarter.
Geneva, Switzerland-based Viagogo is an online marketplace for
the resale of live sports, music and entertainment tickets. While
both companies engage in ticket resale, Viagogo is a significant
player internationally, while StubHub is mostly present in the
U.S.
The deal was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal and
will reunite closely held Viagogo's Chief Executive Eric Baker with
StubHub, a company he co-founded.
EBay decided to explore selling StubHub shortly after two
activist investors surfaced in January and urged it to exit
businesses unrelated to its core marketplace. The company agreed to
consider selling StubHub and its internationally focused Classified
business. It also added board members as part of its settlement
with Elliott Management Corp. and Starboard Value LP.
Elliott had said it believed StubHub could sell for between $3.5
billion and $4.5 billion and eBay's classified businesses for
between $8 billion and $12 billion.
In September, eBay CEO Devin Wenig stepped down from the
company, in part because of disagreement over selling StubHub and
the classifieds business.
EBay in October warned investors it could report its first
quarterly revenue decline in four years. The company also said
sluggish sales of merchandise through its main platform helped
cause a 57% year-over-year decline in its third-quarter profit.
EBay has been working for years to redefine itself as shoppers
increasingly turn to their phones, showing little patience for
scrolling through thousands of listings. The company touts that 80%
of items on its site are new, with the bulk sold at a fixed price
rather than being auctioned. It has rolled out improved search
features and personalized recommendations and reviews. It also
recently launched aggressive marketing campaigns to shed what some
see as its outdated image.
Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com and Corrie
Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2019 10:01 ET (15:01 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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