Viagogo purchases rival StubHub from eBay for £3.1bn

eBay Inc and Viagogo today announced they have entered into an agreement for eBay to sell StubHub to Viagogo for £3.1bn in cash.

Viagogo is a worldwide ticket marketplace for live sport, music and entertainment events, and StubHub is a ticket marketplace in the United States. Combined, these complementary marketplaces sell hundreds of thousands of tickets daily across more than 70 countries around the world.

Eric Baker, Viagogo’s founder and CEO, also co-founded StubHub while in business school, but left before the business was sold to eBay for $310m in 2007.

“It has long been my wish to unite the two companies. I am so proud of how StubHub has grown over the years and excited about the possibilities for our shared future,” Baker said. “Buyers will have a wider choice of tickets, and sellers will have a wider network of buyers. Bringing these two companies together creates a win-win for fans – more choice and better pricing.”

The sale is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is acting as financial advisor to eBay. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Quinn Emanuel are acting as legal advisors to eBay. J.P. Morgan is acting as sole financial advisor and sole underwriter of the committed debt and preferred equity financings for Viagogo. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP are acting as legal advisors for Viagogo.

We’re buying @StubHub from @eBay in a deal that will create a truly global ticket network & give buyers access to the widest selection of ticket inventory in the world. https://t.co/5UpkziSp0f pic.twitter.com/uFAnaKkBhP

— viagogo (@viagogo) November 25, 2019

It has been a rollercoaster year for Viagogo. In July the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) put the ticket resale site on notice that it was moving forward with contempt of court action following repeated warnings that Viagogo had not done enough to comply with a court order to improve its service for customers.

Viagogo’s court order included many instructions, after the CMA found that the company had broken consumer protection laws.

However, in September this year, the company had its court action suspended, after they addressed several issues facing the firm. The CMA did not rule out future action if the problems recur or if other issues are identified.