UK Regulator Launches Investigation Into Viagogo, StubHub Merger
15 April 2020 - 10:57PM
Dow Jones News
By Ian Walker
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that
it has started an investigation into eBay Inc.'s completed sale of
StubHub to Viagogo Entertainment Inc. to see whether the deal will
lead to a competition issue.
The regulator--which in February served an initial enforcement
order on the companies requiring Viagogo and StubHub to continue to
operate independently for an unspecified amount of time--said it
wants to see if the deal "may be expected to result in a
substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets
in the U.K. for goods or services."
It has until June 11 to make a decision.
StubHub and smaller rival Viagogo are already among the largest
players in the growing secondary market for sports, music and
live-entertainment tickets, in which brokers and fans resell
tickets.
While StubHub and Viagogo are both big online ticket resellers,
StubHub is mostly present in North America, whereas Viagogo is a
significant competitor internationally--particularly in the U.K.
and Europe.
eBay completed the sale of StubHub to Viagogo for $4.05 billion
in cash on Feb. 13.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2020 08:42 ET (12:42 GMT)
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