‍👉 Background: Stubhub is the online ticket marketplace that was founded in 2000. By 2004, the co-founders fell out and the leaving-co-founder founded Viagogo - StubHub’s arch nemesis. But, Stubhub continued to grow. In fact, its platform facilitated the purchase of over 40 million tickets in 2024 from more than 200 countries, including Australia.

‍👉 What happened: StubHub listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week but struggled to get momentum, so its share price fell 6% on debut. Turns out, Stubhub's debut came on the same day that the Fed Reserve cut interest rates by 0.25% and the StubHub CEO also warned that new ticket pricing transparency laws would likely shave 10% off revenues in the short term.

‍👉 What else: While companies eyeing an IPO were excited by the performance of Figma and Klarna earlier this year, this may just remind them that not all IPOs are meant to shine.

‍What's the key learning?

‍💡In every boom cycle, not every IPO can live up to investor expectations. We know that the IPO markets move in cycles. There are hot periods, like the 2021 boom and there are cold periods when IPOs dry up because market conditions are shaky.

💡For investors, it means that during boom times, they need to be extra cautious about identifying genuine quality businesses and those just jumping on the bandwagon.

💡The next batch of IPO hopefuls are quietly taking notes on what didn’t work for Stubhub:

• Note to self 1: don’t launch on a day when a Fed rate decision will overshadow you
• Note to self 2: don’t price too aggressively
• Note to self 3: make sure you’ve addressed any uncertainties or regulatory risks before IPO-ing