StubHub IPO Tests Market as Ticketmaster Faces FTC Probe

StubHub is aiming to raise as much as $851 million in a New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday (Sept. 17), according to a recent Bloomberg report.

The company is seeking to reinvent itself from a resale marketplace into a direct ticketing player, even as rival Ticketmaster faces heightened scrutiny from U.S. regulators over bots and resale practices, Reuters reported Monday (Sept. 15).

The offering would value StubHub at roughly $9.2 billion. Investors are being pitched on a pivot beyond the company’s traditional secondary market roots toward the much larger $153 billion primary ticket sales industry.

CEO Eric Baker told prospective investors during the IPO roadshow that StubHub is “only scratching the surface” of a market where direct ticket issuance could be more defensible against regulators and competitors, Bloomberg reported Monday.

StubHub’s top line has grown quickly. The firm reported $1.77 billion in revenue for 2024, a 30% jump from $1.37 billion in 2023. Ticket sales topped 40 million across more than 200 countries.

But profitability has slipped. StubHub swung from a $405 million profit in 2023 to a $2.8 million loss in 2024 as marketing and partnership costs accelerated. Adjusted EBIDTA margins have steadily declined from 26% in 2023 to 17% in 2024, and just 12% in the first half of 2025, well below its long-term goal of 35-40%.

“Almost all their tickets are not exclusive to their platform, so you don’t really get any brand loyalty from that aspect,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kevin Near noted. Others question whether StubHub can command the same premium valuations as peer marketplaces like Etsy or Shopify without unique supply.

Ticketmaster’s Bot Battle

Meanwhile, regulators are zeroing in on StubHub’s dominant rival. The Federal Trade Commission is probing whether Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation, has adequately enforced the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016, which bans automated software from bypassing ticket limits. The probe, at an advanced stage, could result in either a settlement or a case filed within weeks.

Potential penalties are steep. Each BOTS Act violation carries fines of up to $53,000, meaning Ticketmaster could face liabilities in the billions if systemic violations are proven.

Ticketmaster has pushed back. The company said it blocks 200 million bot attempts per day, five times more than in 2019, and argued the FTC is taking an “excessively expansionist view” of the law. “We believe the FTC has a fundamental misunderstanding of Ticketmaster’s policies,” the company said in a statement.

The agency’s crackdown comes in the wake of consumer anger from the 2022 Taylor Swift Eras Tour fiasco, when millions of fans were unable to complete ticket purchases. The Justice Department has separately filed an antitrust suit seeking to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, with a trial scheduled for March 2026.

Industry at a Crossroads

The ticketing industry is at a crossroads. If StubHub scales direct sales while Ticketmaster is slowed by fines or remedies, power could shift in StubHub’s favor. But if regulation weighs on both, StubHub’s IPO will test not only its own financial model but the broader market’s confidence in ticketing as a growth story.

Longer term, consumer spending trends matter. PYMNTS Intelligence research finds that high-income households are reallocating discretionary dollars toward concerts, live entertainment and luxury travel at nearly twice the rate of retail goods. That shift points to a durable “experience-first” economy, giving platforms that can lock in premium ticket supply a structural tailwind.

Yet the same research shows a widening gap in demand, with premium events remaining resilient while middle-income households, many now living paycheck to paycheck, are pulling back. Consumers also say they value reliable digital access as much as price, suggesting that platforms able to deliver smoother bot-free purchasing are the most likely to build lasting loyalty.