Is eBay Trying to Buy Online Ticket Marketplace StubHub?

StubHub is being shopped around. And, eBay (EBAY) may buy the buyer of the online ticket marketplace. The price for that asset is going for north of $300 million, according to a someone who's reviewed the site's financials as a potential buyer. StubHub, which has been around since 2000 and has veteran media executive Frank Biondi on its board, recently announced that it's fast approaching its five millionth ticket sale. StubHub takes a 15% commission fee from the seller. The buyer pays StubHub 10% of the ticket price. So, for a $100 ticket, Stubhub takes $25.

EBay has its own ticket marketplace as well. But it's unclear just how robust it is. If traffic is any measurement, however, Stubhub's business is far more active. StubHub saw 2.1 million unique visitors and generated 22.3 million page views in August, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. EBay's ticket section (http://tickets.ebay.com) saw 309,000 unique visitors and 875,000 pageviews.
I emailed eBay's Hani Durzy for a comment and background on eBay's ticketing activity. He's hasn't gotten back to me yet.

According to StubHub' spokeperson Sean Pate, StubHub is estimated to generate about $100 million in sales this year on $400 million gross ticket sales. Pate would not disclose the EBTIDA figure. But I heard StubHub is estimated to earn $7 million in cash flow this year.

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Comments

[Jason Raznick:]

Do you know which banks are shopping it around?

2006 Oct 04 04:05 PM

[Jason Raznick:]

Is IAC looking at it too?

2006 Oct 04 04:24 PM

[Jason Raznick:]

I added additional comments here.
seatwar.blogspot.com/

2006 Oct 04 04:26 PM

[Mr WaveTheory:]

StubHub raised $12 million earlier this year and competes against RazorGator. As you can see, StubHub is kicking RazorGator's A** in terms of traffic.

mrwavetheory.blogspot....

2006 Oct 05 03:55 AM