Viagogo
Viagogo, stylized by the company as viagogo, is a multinational ticket exchange and ticket resale brand. It is recorded in the United States (Delaware)[3] and has been owned by StubHub since 2021.[4] It was founded in London in 2006 by Eric Baker as an online marketplace for consumers to buy and sell tickets to sports, music, theatre and comedy events.[5]
Viagogo is backed by investors such as Index Ventures, Brent Hoberman, Jacob Rothschild,[6] and Bessemer Venture Partners.[7] In February 2020 the company purchased StubHub for $4 billion with the merging process finalized in 2022.[8][9][10][11]
The company has been criticized for inflation via ticket resale, lacking transparency, and in some cases, having sold counterfeit tickets. These controversies have led to legal action in some of the countries where Viagogo operates, and also led the UK Competition & Markets Authority to order changes to Viagogo's operations.
History[edit]
2006-2011[edit]
Viagogo was founded in 2006 in London as a secondary ticketing marketplace by Eric Baker, the co-founder of US-based StubHub.[5][12] With sections established to provide an online marketplace for sports, music, theatre and comedy tickets, the company's launch included official partnerships with Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC,[5] with the sports clubs sharing in the commission revenue on ticket resales.[13]
As unauthorized reselling of football tickets was illegal under British law in 2006,[14] Viagogo's official reselling authorizations with Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC marked the first time Premier League tickets were legally resold in the United Kingdom.[15] Manchester United ended its commercial agreement with Viagogo in 2011, also ending official resale of its season tickets in the process.[16]
By 2006 Viagogo was backed by venture capital investment firm Index Ventures as well as Brent Hoberman and Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild.[17][18] Officially debuting in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2006 as an online ticket exchange designed to bypass physical ticket resale,[19] Viagogo stated it offered users more protection than competitors such as eBay by guaranteeing refunds for tickets that were fake or didn't arrive.[20]
In August 2007, Viagogo branched into Germany partnered with Bayern Munich.[21] With Baker as CEO,[22] Viagogo raised £30 million in August 2007 from investors including Brent Hoberman, Bernard Arnault, Jacob Rothschild,[13] and Index Ventures. Viagogo had local sites in Germany, Holland, and Hammersmith, London by 2008. Viagogo by that January had traded £50 million in tickets overall and signed deals with Warner Music and James Blunt.[23]
In May 2008, Live Nation hired Viagogo as one of its ticket sellers in Europe for Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour.[22] Also in 2008, the French Tennis Federation appointed Viagogo the official ticket marketplace of the French Open.[24] Baker stated the company sold $100 million in tickets in 2008, with the company making 25% of that. By June 2009, new investors included Andre Agassi, bringing total funds raised to $70 million. Viagogo was also an official resale partner of Michael Jackson, Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group,[18] and the ATP World Tour Finals.[25] According to The Guardian, "a fundraising effort in 2009 valued the company at $300m".[26]
2012-2019[edit]
The company liquidated its UK assets in 2012 and moved its headquarters to Switzerland, where its financial accounts are private.[26] The change, which occurred directly before the London Olympic Games, meant Viagogo "was no longer subject to UK laws banning resale of tickets for Olympic events."[27]
Also in 2012, Madonna named Viagogo the "official premium and secondary ticketing partner" for her summer European tour.[28] By then Viagogo had also officially partnered with the promoters of musicians such as Rihanna, Coldplay, Westlife, and Take That.[29] In September 2013, Viagogo launched in Australia.[30] The launch was accompanied by two new partnerships with Melbourne-based AFL clubs Collingwood and Richmond.[31] Between 2013 and 2015 it also partnered with the Sydney Swans and Sydney Roosters.[32]
Viagogo was the official ticket marketplace for the various music festivals in 2013, including the Isle of Wight Festival, the Boyzone 20th Anniversary Tour,[33] the Benicàssim Festival and Weekend Festival. In 2014, Viagogo partnered with SFX Entertainment[34] and in 2015 with the Australian Soundwave festival,[35] and Ultra Beach Bali. In 2016, Viagogo was announced as the official ticketing partner of Ultra Singapore 2016.[36]
In March 2012 in the UK, Labour MP Sharon Hodgson's proposal that legislation be introduced to cap resale prices at 10% higher than their face value was rejected by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport leaving Viagogo free to continue operating in the country without price caps.[37] That year Viagogo extended its European ticketing agreement with ESPN.[38]
In October 2013, Viagogo announced a three-year deal with Scottish Rugby, in what was the first time Viagogo had partnered with a governing sports body, and its first deal including naming rights to a sports property.[39] In December, Viagogo entered the Portuguese market through a partnership with soccer club FC Porto, joining Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in "partnering the ticket marketplace" at the time.[40][41]
Viagogo signed a $75 million sponsorship deal with SFX Entertainment in 2014, with Viagogo buying exclusive rights to be the designated ticket reseller for around 50 SFX events.[42] In November 2015, Viagogo became the official international ticketing partner of the Indian Aces of the International Premier Tennis League, at which point it had 60 global websites.[43]
By 2016, Viagogo had secured investments from Robin Klein.[26] As of March 2017, Viagogo was owned by Pugnacious Endeavors,[44][45] which was headquartered in Dover, Delaware in the United States.[1] Viagogo remained technically based in Geneva, while administering much of its business from an office in London.[26]
After a website "glitch" reportedly overcharged dozens of UK customers, in 2017 Viagogo was criticized for allegedly denying prompt refunds.[46] In February 2018, Viagogo was found to have been marketing tickets for a non-existent performance by a Hungarian stand-up comedian for about twice the normal price.[47]
By 2012, Viagogo's ticket pricing policy had become a frequent subject of controversy in the United Kingdom. After a number of Mumford & Sons tickets, one reportedly marked up from face value of £23.50 to £200, proved invalid in November 2012, Viagogo assured the BBC that it was a rare occurrence and the tickets would be refunded or replaced.[48]
In August 2018, it was reported that Viagogo was preparing to move much of its workforce in the United Kingdom to New York.[49][50] In November 2019, Viagogo operated in 70 countries and was particularly popular in Europe.[51]
In March 2019, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport warned consumers not to buy or sell tickets through Viagogo.[52] In July 2019, Google ceased paid advertising by Viagogo for breaching Google's internal advertising policies.[53] Google resumed advertising for Viagogo in November 2019,[54] after Viagogo made "suitable changes to their account."[55]
In November 2019, StubHub disclosed having sold $4.75 billion in tickets in 2018 with $1.1 billion in annual fees, while Viagogo had not disclosed its financial details. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Viagogo operated in 70 countries and was particularly popular in Europe and Britain, while StubHub sold tickets in 44 countries and was most popular in the United States.[56]
2020-2022[edit]
As of 2020, Viagogo's majority owners included Madrone Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and CEO Eric Baker, who held majority voting control.[57] Viagogo retained offices in New York and London and employed 616 people in Europe, Asia, and the United States.[58] After announcing its intent to purchase StubHub from eBay in late 2019,[59] Viagogo agreed to purchase StubHub for $4 billion in February 2020, with Viagogo's owner Pugnacious LLC to become the holding company for both.[60][59] The deal was put on hold in 2020 by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA)[61] over competition concerns,[62] as combined, the two companies held a 90% market share of secondary ticketing in the United Kingdom.[63]
In September 2021, the CMA gave Viagogo permission to complete its acquisition of StubHub. As part of the deal, StubHub agreed to sell its business outside of North America, including its UK business, to Digital Fuel Capital LLC.[64] Through the merger, Viagogo and StubHub became owned by the new entity StubHub Holdings,[4] with StubHub International becoming a separate entity.[65]
In early 2020, the live events industry was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic,[60] with Viagogo Group significantly reducing its Limerick, Ireland workforce as a result.[58] Viagogo took on a $330 million loan in late 2020 in response to the industry shutdowns, allowing the company "to operate with little to no revenue" until 2022 if needed, according to Moody's.[57] In July 2021, Moody's reported that Viagogo had been "free cash flow positive" since April 2021.[60]
In January 2022, it was reported that StubHub Holdings was considering an IPO and had filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.[66] In early 2022, StubHub Holding employed 650 full-time people, with a third of those employees at Viagogo.[67]
In July 2022, Viagogo and StubHub announced that they would be closing their San Francisco and Shanghai offices by 2023, with a new focus to be placed on Los Angeles and New York. Offices would also remain in Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan,[68] and Utah. In 2022, the StubHub brand migrated all of its systems and technology onto Viagogo's tech stack, with Nayaab Islam, who had been running Viagogo's technology teams since 2014, promoted to StubHub president.[8] During the consolidation, Viagogo's and StubHub's legal departments were combined.[69]