StubHub Q1 Shows There’s Still Money In The Mosh Pit

StubHub's first-quarter report made the live-events boom into something more than a crowded calendar. The company reported revenue of $446 million, up 12% from a year earlier, while gross merchandise sales rose 7% to $2.2 billion. Net income reached $48 million after a loss in the prior-year period, and shares were up about 14% in premarket trading Thursday as Wall Street found a ticketing marketplace with fans still buying and margins finally hitting the right notes.

The quarter’s best signal came from what StubHub kept after the tickets changed hands. Adjusted EBITDA rose 50% to $72.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 16%, up more than 400 basis points from a year earlier. Revenue also grew faster than gross merchandise sales, suggesting StubHub captured a larger share of the activity moving across its platform. That is what made the quarter stand out — StubHub was not just moving tickets through the door, it was keeping a healthier slice of the night.

Cash flow brought the encore. StubHub generated $298.4 million in operating cash flow, including net inflows from buyer receipts and seller payments, and $290.6 million in free cash flow, both sharply higher than a year earlier. The company also said it made an additional $100 million debt-reduction payment in May, a bit of post-show cleanup for a marketplace trying to turn packed venues into a lighter capital structure. The ticket counter was busy, but the better punchline was that the money made it past the turnstile and onto the balance sheet.

The trick now is proving this was not a one-quarter drum solo. Management reiterated its full-year outlook for $9.9 billion to $10.1 billion in gross merchandise sales and $400 million to $420 million in adjusted EBITDA, while pointing to open distribution and advertising as future revenue opportunities. If those pieces keep building, StubHub can look like a live-events tollbooth with better margins at the gate. If demand cools or competition squeezes fees, the mosh pit could quickly turn back into margin math.

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