Ticketing platform StubHub enjoyed a strong reception on Wall Street Wednesday, with shares rising about 8% in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange and giving the company a market valuation of roughly $9.32 billion. The performance extends a streak of upbeat first-day showings for technology-oriented platforms after a long lull in public offerings.
The New York-based company’s stock opened at $25.35 per share, above its $23.50 offer price. StubHub raised nearly $800 million in its long-awaited U.S. initial public offering by selling 34 million shares, priced within its marketed range of $22 to $25 apiece. The IPO arrives less than six months after StubHub delayed its listing plans amid market volatility linked to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
For co-founder and CEO Eric Baker, the IPO represents both a milestone and a strategic move. “It is just a step in the road for what we want to build and to ultimately become the destination for all live events and all tickets,” Baker told Reuters in an interview. “It is really a deleveraging event for us to raise the capital, to pay down debt.”
The listing comes as initial public offerings stage a notable comeback on U.S. exchanges this fall after years of subdued activity driven by high interest rates, inflation concerns and inflated private valuations. Debuts by Swedish fintech Klarna, blockchain lender Figure, and cryptocurrency exchange Gemini have headlined one of the busiest IPO windows since 2021, signaling renewed investor appetite for growth companies.
StubHub’s debut may also serve as a bellwether for the live-event ticketing industry, where most competitors—apart from Ticketmaster parent Live Nation—have struggled to thrive as public companies. StubHub’s revenue grew 3% in the first half of 2025, compared with Live Nation’s 6% growth over the same period.
By contrast, rival Vivid Seats, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, has seen its stock plunge nearly 82% this year after losing 27% in 2024. The company was reportedly exploring a sale as recently as December, highlighting the challenges of competing in a sector under increasing regulatory and consumer scrutiny.
“With revenue growth still slow and the industry under scrutiny for fees and fairness, investor appetite looks more measured than exuberant,” said Kat Liu, vice president at IPO research firm IPOX.
While platforms like StubHub are benefiting from surging demand for live entertainment—driven by blockbuster tours such as Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour”—they are also facing heightened oversight from regulators. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sought input from artists and fans on anticompetitive practices in the live-event industry as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to crack down on ticket scalping.
In March, Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting fans from “exploitative ticket scalping” and reforming the live entertainment ticketing market, a move that has placed additional pressure on resellers to demonstrate transparency and fairness.
Against this backdrop, StubHub’s IPO will be closely watched by investors and industry observers alike. Its success may signal that public markets are once again open to consumer-facing platforms, but it will also test whether a ticketing business can deliver growth while navigating regulatory scrutiny and evolving consumer expectations.
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