Ticket software company StubHub is in discussions with bankers and bankers about holding their first public offering by the end of the year, and the two with knowledge of the issue are testing Wall Street's appetite for the return of Tech IPOs.
The consultations were preliminary, said those who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was private. StubHub said it aims to raise more than $1 billion in public offerings at Thursday's Investors Meeting, one attendee said it aims to raise more than $1 billion in the public offering.
The high-tech public offering market has also started late this year. But despite the market volatility caused by constant changes in President Trump's economic policies, more and more companies seem ready to ponder public lists.
Among the tech companies exploring this year's listings is CoreWeave, a cloud computing service provider for AI companies that released its investor prospectus on Monday. Discord, a popular social chat app for the video game community, has also met with investment bankers to discuss preparations for their IPOs
A representative from StubHub did not respond to requests for comment.
StubHub, a ticket resale site founded in 2000 by Eric Baker and Jeff Fleur, grew rapidly in the early days. People can use this site to purchase secondary market tickets for everything from concerts to sporting events.
In 2006, Baker, pushed out amid tensions with Fluhr, founded Viagogo, a similar ticketing company focused on European ticket resale and events. In 2019, Viagogo announced that it would buy StubHub for $4 billion.
Shortly afterwards there was a hit from Covid Pandemic, with the lockdown putting concerts and live performances on hold, effectively organising 95% of StubHub's business. Baker survived the storm, lockdown lifted and fans returned to the venue, and the company saw a surge in business.
Those with knowledge that the company discussed its focus on the IPO at its $16.5 billion valuation last year, said its plan was shelved amid a lack of public lists of similar companies.
Recently, there have been concerns on Wall Street that ticket companies are slowing sales growth as fans are getting cooler at concerts after the initial surge in interest after the pandemic.
But StubHub executives say the business is still growing. The company's total ticket sales have risen nearly 50% over the past three months of 2024, one attendee at the Investors meeting on Thursday said.
