Key Takeaways
- Class Action Lawsuit: StubHub faces a class action lawsuit due to undisclosed conflicts of interest involving its CEO.
- Financial Stake: CEO Eric Baker has a financial stake in a ticket reselling fund that has profited significantly on StubHub’s platform.
- Consumer Trust: The lawsuit claims that StubHub misled consumers about the nature of its marketplace.
- Transparency Issues: The case highlights concerns regarding transparency and consumer trust in online ticket sales.
StubHub has been hit with a class action lawsuit in the wake of reporting that its CEO is also the managing partner of a ticket broker that has made millions of dollars on the platform.
The complaint, filed on Monday (July 13) and obtained by Billboard, focuses on revelations that StubHub CEO Eric Baker has an ownership stake in ticket reselling fund Andro Capital. StubHub disclosed this information to regulators ahead of its $758 million initial public offering in September 2025, but it became news on Friday (July 10) via a report from CBC News that delved into those IPO documents.
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In pre-IPO filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), StubHub said that Baker’s fund has sold secondary-market tickets on the platform since 2008 and generated more than $5 million in proceeds since 2022. Andro Capital’s affiliate company, Colloquy Capital, also has a referral agreement in place with StubHub, according to the regulatory disclosures and CBC.
Monday’s lawsuit claims that while StubHub did give this information to regulators, it did not publicize it to ordinary ticket buyers. On the contrary, plaintiff Louis Sanquini says StubHub was advertised as a platform that “connects independent buyers and sellers” when he logged onto the website to buy tickets for a Kiss show at Madison Square Garden in 2023 and a New York Red Bulls soccer game in 2024.
“Plaintiff and members of the proposed class purchased tickets on StubHub believing they were buying from individual fans through a neutral marketplace, when in fact StubHub’s own leadership has a direct financial stake in, and StubHub itself helps finance, the large-scale resale operations that supply much of the platform’s inventory,” reads Sanquini’s lawsuit. “Defendants’ failure to disclose this conflict of interest, while affirmatively marketing StubHub as a fan-to-fan marketplace, deceived plaintiff.”
Sanquini is seeking to represent a nationwide class of fans who bought tickets on StubHub without understanding Baker’s financial stake. The suit seeks financial damages for alleged fraud, unjust enrichment and violations of consumer protection law. Sanquini’s lawyer, Keven Steinberg, said in a statement Monday that the case is “about transparency and consumer trust.”
“If companies make representations to the public, consumers are entitled to expect that those representations are complete and accurate,” added Steinberg. “Consumers deserve honesty and transparency when they make event purchasing decisions, particularly on platforms that market themselves as ‘neutral marketplaces.’ We believe the facts will demonstrate that these issues warrant careful judicial scrutiny, and we intend to prosecute the case aggressively on behalf of the proposed class.”
A rep for StubHub declined to comment on the matter on Monday. In a statement to CBC for Friday’s story, a company spokesperson said Baker’s ownership in and involvement with Andro Capital “has been fully disclosed in StubHub’s public SEC filings.”
StubHub went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2025 at $23.50 per share. The stock price has since declined, leading investors to sue the company for allegedly concealing cash flow issues ahead of the IPO. StubHub denies those claims, saying its regulatory materials “contained detailed disclosures” addressing all the intricacies of its business.
