Wie eBay soeben mitteilte, geht die Ticketbörse StubHub an den Konkurrenten viagogo. Viagogo ist ein direkter Konkurrent zu StubHub. Eines haben beide Marktplätze gemeinsam und zwar den Gründer Eric Baker. Er ist auch der aktuelle CEO von viagogo. 2007 verkaufte er das Unternehmen für 321 Millionen US-Dollar an eBay. Heute kauft er es für über 4 Milliarden US-Dollar zurück.

Die Pressemitteilung in der Originalfassung

Combination of Two Companies to Form a Global Live Experiences Marketplace

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and viagogo today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for eBay to sell StubHub to viagogo for a purchase price of $4.05 billion in cash.

“We believe this transaction is a great outcome and maximizes long-term value for eBay shareholders,” said Scott Schenkel, interim chief executive officer of eBay Inc. “Over the past several months, eBay’s leadership team and Board of Directors have been engaged in a thorough review of our current strategies and portfolio, and we concluded that this was the best path forward for both eBay and StubHub. We firmly believe in the StubHub business and we are excited about its future growth potential with viagogo as its owner.”

viagogo is a leading worldwide ticket marketplace for live sport, music and entertainment events, and StubHub is a trusted ticket marketplace in the United States. Both viagogo and StubHub provide fans with transparency, choice and competitive prices for tickets and do so in a trusted and secure environment with fan-protect guarantees. Combined, these complementary marketplaces will sell hundreds of thousands of tickets daily across more than 70 countries, giving fans seamless access to a wider selection of inventory around the world, while sellers, teams and artists will have the ability to more effectively reach a broader global audience.  

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 $310 million 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.”

“Bringing StubHub and viagogo together will allow us to drive further expansion and innovation, and create a more competitive offering for live event fans globally,” said Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, president of StubHub. “This provides a great opportunity to expand our business, pursue new partnerships and execute our strategy. We expect a seamless transition for all our employees, partners and customers, and we are excited for what the future holds.”

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

eBay regularly reviews its portfolio to ensure that its investments and assets support the company’s strategic direction while adhering to a disciplined approach to value creation. 

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.

About eBay: eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is a global commerce leader including the Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. Collectively, we connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world, empowering people and creating opportunity for all. Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay is one of the world’s most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection. In 2018, eBay enabled $95 billion of gross merchandise volume. For more information about the company and its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.

About StubHub: At StubHub, our mission is to bring the joy of live to fans globally. As the world’s most trusted ticket marketplace spanning 44 countries, we enable fans to buy and sell tickets to tens of thousands of events, whenever and wherever fans want to be. Backed by award-winning customer care, StubHub’s FanProtect™ Guarantee means every ticket is guaranteed valid or you’ll receive a replacement ticket of equal or better value, or your money back. Our business partners include more than 130 properties globally across the NFL, MLB,  NBA, NHL, MLS, WWE, NCAA, Matchroom Boxing, plus Paciolan, Tessitura and Roundabout Theatre Company. StubHub provides the total end-to-end event going experience throughout the world. For more information on StubHub, visit StubHub.com or follow @StubHub on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

About viagogo: viagogo was built with the aim of providing ticket buyers with the widest possible choice of tickets to events across the world and to help ticket sellers reach a global audience.  Since its inception in 2006, viagogo has grown to be an important option for fans in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America, and has partnered with many of the world’s leading brands in sports and entertainment. viagogo now serves customers in over 70 countries and processes millions of transactions annually.

Die Macht der Investoren

Während Unternehmen mit Ankerinvestoren oder mit Stimmenmehrheit der Gründer wesentlich stabiler, nachhaltiger und langfristiger agieren, scheint das bei eBay seit langem nicht mehr der Fall zu sein. Dort haben bereits seit Jahren die auf kurzfristige Gewinne fokussierten >Heuschrecken< das Ruder übernommen. Im Zuge diese Auseinandersetzung verließen zwei CEOs den Plattformbetreiber. John Donahoe und Devin Wenig waren die Opfer. Erst wurde PayPal abgespalten und nun droht der schlussendliche Ausverkauf.

Die eBay Classifieds Group soll abgespalten werden, fordern einige Shareholder. Nicht wenige spekulieren deshalb, dass ebay Kleinanzeigen auch der Abspaltung zum Opfer fallen wird. Das wäre jedoch für das noch verbleibende Marktplatzgeschäft dramatisch.

StubHub GMV und Umsatz

Das GMV stagnierte bei 286 Millionen US-Dollar gegenüber dem Vorjahresquartal (Q3/2018), der Gewinn stiegt jedoch um 5% an.

Viagogo, die europäische Version von StubHub

Ex-StubHub Chef und Gründer startete viagogo 2007 als europäische Version der amerikanischen Ticketbörse. Zu den prominenten Investoren von viagogo gehören unter anderem Andre Agassi und Steffi Graf sowie Jacob Rothschild oder Bernard Arnault. Viel mehr ist aber über den Marktplatz nicht bekannt.