Ticketing platform StubHub (STUB.US) raised $800 million through its IPO, but on its first day of trading, its stock price fell against the market trend by 6.4%.

After raising $800 million in its initial public offering (IPO), StubHub Holdings (STUB.US) saw its stock price drop 6.4% on its first day of trading. The New York-based ticketing platform closed at $22 per share on Wednesday, wiping out its initial gains, although it had seen a slight increase in early trading. The company had sold 34 million shares at $23.50 per share on Tuesday, with an initial price range of $22 to $25 per share. Based on the post-IPO number of shares, the company had a market value of approximately $8.1 billion. The recent strong performance of the US IPO market has seen around $5.3 billion raised since Labor Day on September 1, excluding financial instruments such as special purpose acquisition companies. For example, the stock prices of Klarna Group Plc and Figure Technology Solutions Inc. held onto their gains in early trading. Reports indicate that StubHub's stock offering was oversubscribed several times. The company had been seeking to go public since 2022, initially planning to achieve a valuation of over $13 billion through a direct listing. However, after Taylor Swift's "Red" tour ticket sales surged in 2023, the company had tried but postponed its IPO; this year in April, the US announced broad tariff measures, causing market volatility, leading the company to once again postpone its listing plans. Established in 2000, StubHub has long focused on secondary ticket sales and has expanded into new ticket issuance business in recent years, although new ticket sales still account for a small portion of its business. This month, the company announced a multi-year partnership with Major League Baseball, offering game tickets together. Financial data shows that in the six months ending on June 30, the company had revenues of $827.9 million and a net loss of $76 million; in the same period the previous year, revenues were $803.5 million with a net loss of $24 million. Total merchandise sales (including fees and seller profits) for the same period increased to $4.4 billion, up from $3.9 billion in the previous year. Currently, US regulatory agencies and lawmakers are increasing their scrutiny of the ticketing industry. According to reports on Monday, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation, has taken sufficient measures to prevent Siasun Robot & Automation from illegally reselling tickets, a claim that Ticketmaster denies and plans to defend against. In March, the White House issued an executive order on ticketing, requiring agencies to submit compliance reports by the end of September; the Department of Justice and dozens of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit seeking to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, with the case set to go to trial in March; the Senate is considering a bill to ban ticket resellers from advertising tickets they do not hold. During an interview, co-founder and CEO Eric Baker stated that the company has long advocated for the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016, which advocates for tickets to be distributed securely, reliably, and democratically through open channels. The company's structure reflects Baker's strategic layout: in 2007, StubHub was acquired by eBay for $310 million, after which Baker left to found the European company Viagogo; in 2019, Viagogo agreed to acquire StubHub for $4.05 billion, with the transaction completed the following year and regulatory approval obtained for the integration of the two companies in 2022. In terms of ownership structure, Baker holds 4.2% of Class A shares, with each of his Class B shares having 100 voting rights per share, giving him a total voting power of 88.3% post-issuance. Other major shareholders include Madrone Partners LP expected to hold 2...