Ticket reseller StubHub went public on Wednesday. Although its shares closed 6% below their IPO price of $23.50, the debut still valued the company at over $7 billion. This public offering stands as a testament to the co-founder’s decades-long perseverance.
StubHub CEO Eric Baker co-founded the company with Jeff Fluhr in 2000 while they were attending the Stanford Graduate School of Business. This was a challenging time shortly after the dotcom bubble burst and the NASDAQ crashed, but the pair remained determined. Baker once noted that the difficult period weeded out weaker competitors, creating a real opportunity to build a lasting business for those who persevered.
A few years later, the business was growing, but Baker and Fluhr disagreed on the company’s direction. This led to Baker being pushed out of the company in 2004. The following year, Baker relocated to London and founded Viagogo, a European version of StubHub. Despite numerous challenges in growing the new company, he held onto a dream of one day merging it with StubHub.
That opportunity arose in 2019 when eBay, which had purchased StubHub in 2007, decided to spin it off. Baker seized the moment, securing backing from investors including WestCap, Madrone Capital Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners to purchase StubHub for $4.05 billion.
Shortly after the merger was completed, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With live events cancelled and global quarantines in effect, the company’s revenue collapsed. The company managed to scrape by, and when live events rebounded, its revenue grew significantly. This growth was driven by hugely popular events like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, and the Super Bowl.
In the first quarter of 2025, StubHub’s revenue grew by 10% to $397.6 million compared to the same period last year. Reflecting on the journey, Baker expressed amazement at how far the company had come, having successfully navigated numerous challenges, including the unprecedented halt to live events in 2020.
According to the company’s filings, Baker now owns 4.7% of the company. StubHub’s investors Madrone Partners, WestCap, and Bessemer Venture Partners hold 24.5%, 12.3%, and 8.8% respectively.