StubHub CEO Eric Baker said Wednesday that federal regulations on transparent ticket pricing have recently been introduced, bringing a “one-time” hit to financial results.
As consumers consume the new rules, revenue is expected to decline year by year, Baker told CNBC.
“We’ve seen this in states like New York. You drop off and it hits about 10%. … It’s just coming back to normal,” Baker said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “You’ve now normalized it, so you’re growing from the base. So it’s one hit on conversion, resetting the market, then going upwards.”
The online ticket marketplace is scheduled to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol “Stub.”
StubHub The IPO priced at $23.50 late Tuesday, and last week it landed at the midpoint of its $22-$25 forecast range. Stock sales value the company at $8.6 billion.
Online ticket sellers such as StubHub, Live Nation Ticketmaster and Vivid Seats were required to adapt to the Federal Trade Commission’s “junk rate” rules that came into effect in May.
The rules “prohibit pricing for bait and switch, as well as other tactics used to hide the total price and mislead people about live event tickets and fees for the short-term accommodation industry,” the agency said.
DC Attorney General Brian Schwarb sued StubHub for “predatory IV pricing” last August, advertising the low ticket prices at first glance, but the countdown clock increases the false sense of urgency and total cost at checkout “are much higher than the ticket price originally advertised.”
Baker said the company advocates for ticket providers to have “all-in pricing.”
“If you’re the only person in the market that’s doing it for the reasons I said, you’ll be a problem,” Baker said. “So now, everyone is happy and you have a level playing field because everyone is doing it.”
The San Francisco-based company was co-founded and acquired by Baker in 2000. eBay It would be $310 million in seven years. Baker re-earned Stubhub in 2020 for around $4 billion through his new company Viagogo.
StubHub delayed its planned IPO in April as President Donald Trump significantly shook the tariffs that shook the market.
