eBay acquires Ticketbis to expand StubHub internationally

With the aquisition, StubHub will be expand its footprint in Latin America, Europe and Asia

Updated with additional comment from eBay

Banking on the extreme dislike that so many people have for Ticketmaster (justifiably, I might add), StubHub has turned itself into a major force in the the online ticket space, giving people a place to buy resold tickets without having to deal with the giant upcharges they usually have to pay.

Now the company is about to expand in a big, big way, as eBay announced on Tuesday that it has acquired international ticket marketplace Ticketbis. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but it was revealed that the company will become part of the StubHub business, which eBay bought for $310 million back in 2007.

At this time, StubHub intends to retain all Ticketbis employees. Upon the close of the acquisition, Ticketbis will increase StubHub’s headcount by over 30 percent. At that time, the two businesses will be integrated and the two catalogues of inventory will be merged. 

What's most significant about this purchase is the number of markets that Ticketbis was operating in: 47 in all, including Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

It's unclear how many of these markets StubHub will be expanding now that it has Ticketbis' infrasturcture behind it, but it will certainly be more markets than it was operating in previously. Before this, StubHub had only been in four countries outside of the United States. It operates in Canda; it entered the United Kingdom in 2012; has been in Germany since 2015; and it launched in Mexico earlier this month. Now, with this acquisition, StubHub will grow its presence across Latin America and Europe and expand into Asia Pacific.

"The first order of business following the close of the acquisition is to integrate the businesses, including teams, ticket inventories, processes and infrastructure. We will take a market-by-market approach in terms of integrating Ticketbis’s business into StubHub," Penny Bruce, Director of Corporate Communications, at eBay told me.

Stubhub seems to have become a bigger priority for eBay this year than it had been in the past. In February the company began selling tickets directly from venues on its platform. It also announced its first partner, the Philadelphia 76ers, meaning that people who want to buy tickets to home games for the 2016-2017 season will have to go to StubHub to get them.

Last week, StubHub stepped into another part of the market, again with the the Philadelphia 76ers, becoming the first company to be advertised on a sports jersey. Starting next season, the 76ers will have a StubHub logo on their uniforms.

"eBay's global presence will help StubHub acquire new customers as it expands into markets outside of the U.S. This deal reaffirms our commitment to investing in StubHub and helping fuel its momentum," Devin Wenig, President and CEO of eBay, said in a statement regarding the acquisition of Ticketbis. 

Founded in 2009, Ticketbis had raised just under $26 million in venture funding from investors that included Active Venture Partners and Marc Bell Ventures, and individuals such as Daniel Curran, Eneko Knorr and Fabrice Grinda.

The deal expected to close in mid-2016, and is not expected to impact the second quarter 2016 or full year 2016 guidance that eBay provided in its first quarter 2016 earnings report.

This is eBay's third acquisition of 2016. In April it bought Cargigi, a provider of online advertising and marketing services for the auto industry, to help onboard auto dealers’ inventory onto the site. Earlier this month the company acquired Swedish intelligent automation and optimization platform ExpertMaker.

(Image source: ticketbis.com)