Eventbrite, an IPO on the NYSE and a lively ticketing market

Eventbrite is launching on the NY Stock Exchange. The online ticketing platform is planning to raise 200 million dollars. The lead underwriter for the IPO will be Goldman Sachs.

Eventbrite was launched in 2006 by Kevin and Julia Hartz in San Francisco and is at the moment unprofitable, with losses however declining from $40.4 million in 2016 to $38.5 million in 2017. At the same time, revenues continue to grow with sales increasing by 51%, from $135.5 million in 2016 to $201.6 million in 2017.

At the moment, Eventbrite is mostly concentrating on smaller events, although it recently purchased Ticketscript in the Netherlands, US-based Ticketfly, Ticketea in Spain and Picatic in Canada.

Ticketing companies thus confirm how lively they are. Secondary ticketing is still present, even though in many countries regulations are countering this practice and even Google’s algorithms have restrictions.

Facebook Events is thus becoming more and more used by secondary ticketing companies. Unofficial tour pages, therefore, compete with official ones.

Ed Sheeran’s tour in South Africa, due in 2019, is one of the most touted. A page dedicated to it on Facebook redirects users to Viagogo and Eatmytickets. The company told music industry magazine IQ that it is not related to these pages and that «We distance ourselves from these practices. We are operating worldwide and redirect to different primary and secondary ticket sales platforms.»