Ticket Resale Marketplace StubHub Goes Through A Big Fat Round Of Layoffs

Online ticket marketplace StubHub recently went through a big round of layoffs, which the company confirmed to us by email today. A source tells us the cuts were made after the company failed to meet its parent company’s expectations, due to changing dynamics in the market for secondary ticket sales.

StubHub wouldn’t comment on the size of the layoffs, but we’ve heard that approximately 100 employees were affected. That’s out of a total headcount of about 700 employees at StubHub at the time the cuts were made.

When asked for comment, a representative from StubHub confirmed the layoffs and sent the following statement:

StubHub announced a reorganization In June that will allow us to be more nimble and efficient in serving fans. The organization change had the unfortunate consequence of eliminating the roles of some StubHub employees. The majority of positions eliminated were in our Field Operations division, where the proliferation of electronic tickets has reduced our need for on the ground customer support.

StubHub, which was founded in 2000 and acquired by eBay in 2007, has long been the leader for after-market sales of tickets for concerts, sporting events and other live events. But over the years, it’s seen increasing competition from a number of other players in the market, most notably Ticketmaster.

Last fall, Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster introduced its own secondary ticket marketplace, called Ticketmaster Plus, to enable its customers to resell tickets they purchased directly on its site. The company reportedly invested $100 million into the project to compete against StubHub and other resale players.

Evidently that plan has worked. A source tells us increased competition resulted in StubHub missing its numbers, which prompted the company re-org.