Vivid Seats Reportedly Eyeing Sale of Online Ticketing Platform

Online ticketing marketplace Vivid Seats is reportedly exploring a sale after getting some takeover interest.

The company, which competes with the likes of SeatGeek and StubHub, is working with an advisor to determine the interest of potential buyers, including private equity firms, Bloomberg News reported Monday (Dec. 30), citing sources familiar with the matter.

PYMNTS has contacted Vivid Seats for comment but has not yet gotten a reply. A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that Vivid does not comment on speculation or rumors.

Vivid went public in 2021 in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger that valued the firm at $1.95 billion.

The company’s stock was up by as much as 20% Monday, the report added, after falling 40% over the last year.

In May, the company reported a 20% increase in marketplace gross order value (GOV) with revenue increasing by 18%. However, investors expressed concerns about how consumers’ constrained discretionary spending would affect their ticket purchasing.

“There’s going to be some skew towards affordability, but beyond that, … nothing we’ve seen suggesting at the broad level any weakening in consumer interests and attending these types of events,” CFO Lawrence Fey said at the time.

Beyond that, the company said it was seeing generational trends toward spending more on experiences as younger consumers start making more purchases.

“Frankly, as the demographics move into some of the newer generations who are coming into purchasing power, I think it’s clear that this is a category that they will remain prioritized on their spend,” Vivid Seats CEO Stan Chia said.

PYMNTS Intelligence research has shown that the younger a consumer is, the more of their paycheck they’ll devote to recreation, leisure and entertainment activities.

The April installment of the “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report” series, “Why 60% of Gen Z’s Live Paycheck to Paycheck,” found that consumers in that age group expected to spend 10% of their personal income on these expenses in the month ahead, while millennials expected to spend 8%, Generation X 7%, and baby boomers and seniors 6%.

The study also found that millennials and bridge millennials were the most likely of all age groups to mention paying for an upcoming event or show as a top financial priority.