Special Situation: Eventbrite IPO

Article Excerpt

EVENTBRITE INC. (New York symbol EB; www.eventbrite.com) makes cloud-based software and websites that help organizers of concerts and other live events promote their shows and sell tickets. The company charges a per-ticket fee for that service. In 2017, it helped more than 700,000 organizations sell 203 million tickets in over 170 countries. On September 20, 2018, Eventbrite sold 10 million shares at $23.00 a share. Insiders still control 98.5% of the votes. The company will apply some of the $230 million in proceeds to its $66.4 million debt. Eventbrite should benefit as more people, particularly millennials, spend more of their disposable income on experiences instead of things. However, it faces strong competition from Live Nation (which owns Ticketmaster), as well as large technology firms like Google, Amazon and Facebook. We don’t recommend Eventbrite. Eventbrite…