On Thanksgiving Eve 2019 Eric Baker celebrated his company, Viagogo, buying its larger rival StubHub from eBay for $4.05 billion. It was a tale, for Baker, of triumph and revenge. He had cofounded StubHub at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; then his cofounder kicked him out, spurring him to covertly launch Viagogo overseas. November’s announcement offered Baker a shot at redemption.
Three months later, on February 13, 2020, the deal closed. Baker, 47, whose company had paid with a combination of $2 billion in debt and $2 billion in cash, had created a global colossus that sold millions of event tickets last year, bringing in $1.5 billion in combined annual revenue. His 23% stake in the new firm put him close to becoming a billionaire.
Then came the pandemic.
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2020/05/27/worst-deal-ever/#1222893888d1
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The Epically Bad Decision By StubHub’s Cofounder To Buy His Company Back | Forbes