eBay buys ticket reseller StubHub for $310 million

Steve Safran January 11th, 2007

Call them “ticket resellers,” call them “scalpers,” it means the same thing: people or companies that resell tickets, usually against the original seller’s policy, for a big markup. The laws on this are inconsistent. StubHub has made a big business out of reselling tickets - $400 million gross last year. eBay, where you can also find tickets, is buying StubHub for $310 million. And check out this stat: the primary ticket market in 2006 grossed $25 billion; the “secondary” market grossed $10 billion. Conclusion: It’s hard to believe, but apparently sports teams and concerts aren’t charging as much as they could.