StubHub
StubHub is a public online ticket resale marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of live event tickets across sports, concerts, theater, and festivals, serving over 125 million users across 200+ countries with FanProtect-backed transactions and AI-powered discovery, pricing, and distribution tools.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What StubHub does
StubHub operates a global online ticket resale marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of live event tickets across sports, concerts, theater, and festivals. Founded in 2000 in San Francisco and public on the NYSE (ticker STUB) since its September 2025 IPO at $23.50 per share, the platform serves more than 125 million users across 200+ countries and processes approximately 1.3 tickets per second. The core product is the StubHub Marketplace, underwritten by the FanProtect Guarantee that promises valid tickets or replacement/refund; it is supplemented by iOS/Android mobile apps, seller-side tools (Sell Tickets with a 15-year-data Pricing Assistant and ReachPro), an AI-powered Distribution Manager for open distribution, and FestProtect — a festival-specific tiered protection product launched in June 2026.
Revenue is generated through transaction-based fees: StubHub takes a commission on each completed ticket sale as the marketplace intermediary, plus mandatory service and delivery fees that have drawn heavy regulatory scrutiny, including a $10 million FTC settlement for hidden-fee violations (May 12–14, 2025) and a £889,200 UK CMA fine for "drip pricing," with an additional £900,000 UK penalty tied to FIFA World Cup ticket cancellations. Customer acquisition follows a self-serve, product-led growth motion across owned web and mobile properties, email, social, and emerging conversational channels via ChatGPT and Claude AI integrations, with distribution extended through Open Distribution partnerships with primary ticketing platform vivenu and sister brand viagogo for international markets.
Reported FY2025 revenue was $1.7 billion, down 1.4% year-over-year, but Q1 2026 rebounded sharply to $446 million (+12% YoY) with adjusted EBITDA of $72.1 million (+50% YoY) and a swing to $48 million in net income; full-year 2026 guidance targets $9.9–$10.1 billion in gross merchandise sales and $400–$420 million in adjusted EBITDA. StubHub commands approximately 50% of the North American secondary ticketing market, yet its stock trades around $12.40 — roughly 47% below the IPO price — reflecting mixed financial signals, ongoing regulatory headwinds (Ontario consumer beware list, BC Attorney General investigation, NY/NJ FIFA probes), and reputational risk from World Cup 2026 ticket delivery failures.
StubHub firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- StubHub
- Legal name
- StubHub Holdings, Inc.
- Website
- https://stubhub.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- StubHub is a public online ticket resale marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of live event tickets across sports, concerts, theater, and festivals, serving over 125 million users across 200+ countries with FanProtect-backed transactions and AI-powered discovery, pricing, and distribution tools.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
StubHub industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Ticket Resale Marketplace
- akta.pro primary industry
- Event Discovery, Listings & Calendar Platforms (MPAGAJAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Pricing, Yield Management & Anti-Fraud Services (MPAGAJAH), Customer Support, CRM & Fan Engagement for Ticketing (MPAGAJAI)
Keywords
Where StubHub is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
StubHub business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Ticket Resale Transaction Fees: StubHub earns commission on each ticket sold through its marketplace platform, taking a percentage of the transaction value. The company serves as an intermediary between ticket buyers and sellers, charging fees on completed transactions.
- Service and Delivery Fees: The company charges additional mandatory delivery and service fees that have been subject to regulatory scrutiny. In 2026, StubHub was fined by UK CMA £889,200 for 'drip pricing' practices and settled with US FTC for $10 million for hidden fee violations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Marketplace pricing with variable fees |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
StubHub product offering
Product offeringCore offering
StubHub operates a global online ticket resale marketplace where individual ticket sellers list live event tickets (sports, concerts, theater, comedy, festivals) and buyers purchase them, with the company earning transaction-based commissions and service fees on each completed sale. Every transaction is backed by the FanProtect Guarantee providing valid tickets or money back. The platform serves over 125 million fans across 200+ countries and processes tickets at a rate of 1.3 per second, and is supplemented by AI-powered discovery integrations with ChatGPT and Claude, a seller-side Pricing Assistant, and a FestProtect tiered festival protection product.
Product overview
StubHub operates a global ticket resale marketplace as a unified platform connecting ticket buyers and sellers for live events including sports, concerts, theater, and festivals. The core product is the StubHub Marketplace backed by the FanProtect Guarantee, supplemented by seller tools (Sell Tickets with Pricing Assistant and ReachPro), open distribution capabilities (Distribution Manager and Open Distribution partnerships with vivenu/viagogo), and AI-powered features including Dynamic Pricing, a Prediction Engine, and AI assistant integrations with ChatGPT and Claude. FestProtect adds festival-specific buyer protections, while Access: DC is a community initiative. The platform spans 200+ countries and territories, serves 125+ million users, and processes tickets for events across North America, Europe, and globally.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- FestProtect: Festival-focused expansion of FanProtect Guarantee offering tiered protection for weather cancellations, artist dropouts, and scheduling conflicts.
- FanProtect Guarantee
Products and services
- StubHub Marketplace Primary ticket resale marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of live event tickets across sports, concerts, theater, comedy, and festivals, backed by the FanProtect Guarantee.
- FanProtect Guarantee StubHub's buyer protection guarantee promising valid tickets or replacement/comparable tickets or money back, along with a seller payment guarantee covering ticket delivery, validity, and order issue resolution.
- StubHub Mobile App iOS and Android mobile applications for discovering live events, purchasing and selling tickets, and managing orders on mobile devices, with push notifications for price drops and event alerts.
- Sell Tickets Platform Seller-facing platform allowing ticket owners to list tickets for sale on the StubHub marketplace, including a Pricing Assistant built on 15+ years of proprietary data to recommend optimal listing prices and comparison tools for competitive pricing.
- FestProtect Festival-specific protection platform providing tiered coverage for weather cancellations, artist dropouts, scheduling conflicts, and everyday frustrations, with claims submission and rewards system available to festival ticket buyers.
- Open Distribution Platform Enterprise distribution platform enabling event organizers and primary ticketing platforms to distribute tickets through StubHub's marketplace of 125+ million fans across 200+ countries, with StubHub managing payments, customer support, and ticket delivery.
- StubHub Gift Cards Digital and bulk gift card product allowing customers to purchase and distribute StubHub credit that can be used for tickets and merchandise on the marketplace.
Quantifiable outcome
- Achieved Q1 2026 revenue of $446 million with 12% year-over-year growth
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use StubHub
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
StubHub technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
StubHub partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Danny Wimmer PresentscoreFestival partnership for FestProtect platform launch, organizer of Aftershock, Bourbon & Beyond, and Louver Than Life festivals. StubHub's largest festival partnership to date.
- Southern EntertainmentminorFestival partnership for FestProtect platform covering Southern Entertainment festival properties.
- Pryor Creek Music FestivalsminorFestival partnership for FestProtect platform covering Pryor Creek Music Festivals.
- Chicago SkycoreMulti-year partnership making StubHub the Official Open Distribution Partner and Official Ticket Resale Marketplace for the WNBA's Chicago Sky team. Includes branding at Wintrust Arena, digital placements, and access to team intellectual property for marquee events. Part of StubHub's broader investment in women's sports.
- AnthropiccoreIntegration with Claude AI assistant enabling users to discover and browse live events through conversational queries with real-time pricing and seat-level availability. Makes StubHub the only major ticketing platform accessible across multiple leading AI assistants.
- OpenAIcoreIntegration with ChatGPT enabling event discovery and ticket search functionality through conversational AI. Part of StubHub's broader distribution strategy to become default destination for live event discovery within AI-powered conversations.
- New EraminorPartnership integrating personalized New Era merchandise offers directly into StubHub ticket purchase experience, launching ahead of F1 Miami Grand Prix. Uses StubHub's prediction engine to surface tailored gear based on fan history, location, and behavior at checkout and race day.
- vivenucoreEnables event organizers on vivenu's platform to directly access StubHub's global marketplace of over 125 million fans across 200+ countries, with automatic sales syncing and StubHub handling payments, customer support, and ticket delivery.
- viagogocoreOpen Distribution partnership for ULTRA Europe festival where StubHub serves as Official Distribution Partner in North America and viagogo handles international markets.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
StubHub competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Vivid Seats: Vivid Seats is a publicly traded US secondary ticket marketplace directly competing with StubHub across sports, concerts, and theater. Both platforms operate take-rate marketplace models with similar buyer protection guarantees, and Vivid Seats is StubHub's closest pure-play comparable for both market share dynamics and regulatory exposure.
- SeatGeek: SeatGeek operates a primary and secondary ticketing marketplace competing directly with StubHub in North America, including being jointly targeted by Ontario's consumer beware list. Its vertically integrated primary-to-resale offering represents a competitive threat as primary platforms encroach on secondary exchange economics.
- Viagogo: Viagogo is an international secondary ticketing marketplace founded by StubHub CEO Eric Baker. It operates as both a financial investor/partner and a direct competitor in international markets, with a coordinated Open Distribution relationship and overlapping ownership structure.
- Eventbrite: Eventbrite is a self-service event ticketing platform serving a broader set of live events and experiences than StubHub. While focused on primary ticketing for smaller events, it competes for discovery of live entertainment spend and has been expanding into larger event categories where StubHub operates.
- TicketSwap: TicketSwap is a European secondary ticket resale platform that caps resale prices at face value plus a small fee, positioning itself as an ethical alternative to StubHub. It has gained regulatory goodwill and fan trust in markets where anti-scalping legislation is being debated.
Broad incumbents
- Ticketmaster: Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation Entertainment) is the dominant primary ticketing platform globally with an integrated Verified Resale offering that competes with StubHub's core marketplace. As a primary incumbent with massive event organizer relationships, Ticketmaster's expansion into resale directly threatens StubHub's intermediary value proposition.
- AXS: AXS (operated by AEG) is a primary ticketing platform with growing secondary exchange capabilities. It serves many of the same large-venue sports and concert customers that StubHub's seller network relies on, making it a key channel partner and competitive threat in the open distribution landscape.
- Live Nation Entertainment: Live Nation Entertainment is the world's largest live entertainment company and parent of Ticketmaster. As the dominant promoter and venue operator, Live Nation controls primary ticket allocation for many of the events whose resale drives StubHub's GMS, creating structural power over StubHub's inventory pipeline.
Emerging players
- Dice: Dice is a mobile-first ticketing platform focused on live music events, with strong penetration in the UK and EU markets where StubHub also operates. It competes for music festival and concert ticket share with a fan-friendly, low-fee model that has gained traction among artists and venues.
- Tixel: Tixel is a fan-to-fan ticket resale platform operating in Australia, New Zealand, UK, and EU markets that enforces strict anti-scalping rules. It has been endorsed by artists and regulators as a compliant secondary market alternative, putting regulatory pressure on StubHub's fee structure in the same geographies.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
StubHub social profiles
Digital presenceStubHub compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
StubHub financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
StubHub leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
StubHub subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
StubHub funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors10 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
StubHub M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A5 records
Investments2 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about StubHub
What does StubHub do?
StubHub operates a global online ticket resale marketplace where individual ticket sellers list live event tickets (sports, concerts, theater, comedy, festivals) and buyers purchase them, with the company earning transaction-based commissions and service fees on each completed sale. Every transaction is backed by the FanProtect Guarantee providing valid tickets or money back. The platform serves over 125 million fans across 200+ countries and processes tickets at a rate of 1.3 per second, and is supplemented by AI-powered discovery integrations with ChatGPT and Claude, a seller-side Pricing Assistant, and a FestProtect tiered festival protection product.
Is StubHub a public or private company?
StubHub is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was StubHub founded?
StubHub was founded in 2000. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is StubHub based?
StubHub is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does StubHub make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Ticket Resale Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are service and Delivery Fees.
Who are StubHub's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, Viagogo, Eventbrite and TicketSwap. Broad incumbents are Ticketmaster, AXS and Live Nation Entertainment. Emerging players are Dice and Tixel.
Does StubHub have an API?
No public API is recorded for StubHub.
What industry is StubHub in?
StubHub's product category is Online Ticket Resale Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAGAJAL, Event Discovery, Listings & Calendar Platforms, with a secondary code of MPAGAJAH, Pricing, Yield Management & Anti-Fraud Services.