San Francisco-headquartered ticketing platform Eventbrite has announced it’s being acquired by Bending Spoons, in an all-cash transaction valued at around $500 million.
Bending Spoons is a Milan-headquartered private equity firm known for buying and overhauling tech brands whose popularity has waned or flatlined. Its previous acquisitions include AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, and WeTransfer.
Local news media in Silicon Valley are calling the acquisition a “bargain,” given that Eventbrite was valued at $1.8 billion ahead of its IPO in 2018.
Eventbrite shareholders will receive $4.50 per share under the terms of the agreement, a more than 80% premium over the company’s closing price on Monday (December 1), the last trading day before the acquisition was announced. Eventbrite’s stock predictably surged on Tuesday, and has been trading just under $4.50 since.
The company will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange once the deal is completed and will be held privately by Bending Spoons
“Joining forces with Bending Spoons will accelerate innovation and strengthen Eventbrite’s tools and resources to bring even more people together through shared live experiences for many years to come,” Bending Spoons Co-Founder and CEO Luca Ferrari said in a statement.
Ferrari said Bending Spoons had identified “a few opportunities” for Eventbrite.
“These include building a dedicated messaging feature, introducing AI for easier event creation, improving searchability, and creating a system for the secondary ticket market,” he said, adding that Bending Spoons is “committed to investing in Eventbrite for the long run.”
The acquisition was unanimously approved by Eventbrite’s Board of Directors and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and approval of Eventbrite shareholders.
“Joining forces with Bending Spoons will accelerate innovation and strengthen Eventbrite’s tools and resources to bring even more people together through shared live experiences for many years to come.”
Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons
Even as other ticketing companies saw their business boom in the post-Covid recovery years, Eventbrite has seen its revenues stagnate and ticket sales decline.
The company reported net revenue of $325 million for 2024, down slightly from $326 million the year before. Its net loss of $15.6 million in 2024 was narrower than the $25.6 million net loss the year before.
The company processed 83.8 million paid tickets in 2024, down 10.3% from 2023. The company has seen successive waves of layoffs over the past five years.
Founded in 2006 by Kevin and Julia Hartz, along with Renaud Visage, Eventbrite was a “hip and cool hyped company” in Silicon Valley before the pandemic, industry analyst Julius Solaris told the San Francisco Standard.
Post-pandemic, the company lacked a strategy for revival, Solaris suggested.
“I was questioning post-pandemic, since 2021, 2022, when everybody was coming back — what was their strategy?”Music Business Worldwide
