Barchart reported:
Baker isn’t only the CEO of StubHub. He’s also the co-manager of a ticket-focused investment fund that buys tickets in bulk and resells them through platforms like StubHub. According to lawmakers, that means institutional ticket resellers are getting a huge advantage and further inflating the costs of an industry that already feels like it’s stacked against ordinary fans.Stubhub disclosed related party transactions in December 2025:
Andro Capital (“Andro”) is a seller on the Company’s platform and, in the normal course of business, has engaged the Company to list, price and fulfill its tickets on its behalf. The Company’s CEO has an ownership stake in both the Company and Andro. The Company generated fee revenue from tickets sold by Andro of zero during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 and $0.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, $0.1 million was due to Andro in proceeds related to tickets it had sold on the Company’s platform.On July 17, 2024, the Company entered into a program agreement (as amended or supplemented from time to time, the “Program Agreement”) with Colloquy Capital LLC (“Colloquy”), an affiliate of Andro. Under the terms of the Program Agreement, the Company refers certain sellers to Colloquy for the opportunity to enter into separate financing arrangements with Colloquy. Under such arrangements, it is anticipated that Colloquy may provide short-term financing to sellers based on those sellers’ existing and/or future expected proceeds generated through ticket sales on the Company's platform. Pursuant to each seller’s agreement with Colloquy, the Company will disburse to Colloquy a percentage of the seller’s proceeds as agreed upon as consideration for the financing provided by Colloquy to the relevant seller. No fees are payable under this agreement by the Company or Colloquy. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Program Agreement resulted in Colloquy obtaining a security interest of $7.9 million and $0.1 million in the seller's proceeds related to tickets sold on the Company's platform, respectively. On March 20, 2025, the Company entered into a separate services agreement with Colloquy, pursuant to which the Company helps facilitate the sale and servicing of tickets owned by Colloquy in return for a fee based on a percentage of revenue collected for the sale of those tickets. Under both agreements with Colloquy, as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, $0.8 million and $0.1 million, respectively, was due to Colloquy in proceeds, related to tickets sold under the services agreement as well as the Company's disbursement of the seller's proceeds under the Program Agreement. The Company generated $3.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2025 and zero during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 in fees associated with the services agreement.
Conflicts of interest are business du jour so it should be no surprise that Stubhub's CEO Eric Baker found multiple ways of cashing in. If private equity underwriters can be on all sides of a deal, so can Mr. Baker, a former Bain Capital staffer.
Baker was ably assisted by Declaration Partners, the family office of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.
In early 2020:
Declaration Partners formed a private equity syndication fund, Declaration Partners Opportunity II. All capital commitments were fully funded at closing and were used by Declaration to participate in a minority investment in Viagogo’s acquisition of StubHubDeclaration cashed out of StubHub after the IPO. I'm sure Mr. Rubenstein was well aware of Mr. Baker's blatant conflicts of interest and possibly admired his ability to squeeze more ka-ching out of every transaction.
Can anyone say pre-emptive pardon for this Baker boy? Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren. Increasingly, more are one.
