Viagogo ordered to sell non-US parts of StubHub business 

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Ticketing resale website Viagogo has been ordered to sell the non-US parts of StubHub after competition regulators said there was little to stop the merged businesses from hiking fees.

The UK’s competition watchdog said it had concluded a merger between Viagogo and StubHub would "lead to a substantial reduction in competition in the secondary ticketing market in the UK" which could result in higher fees for those exchanging tickets online and worse service.

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) said it was requiring Viagogo to sell all of the StubHub business outside North America, which included the UK operations.

These will be independently owned and run by a separate company, with no input from Viagogo, the CMA said. It is still deciding on the conditions of the sale, but any deal would need approval from the regulator. 

Viagogo had offered to sell off the international business back in November, in an effort to ward off a forced disposal of the entire business. 

The decision to move ahead with that approach brings to a close almost a year of deliberation at the CMA over the deal, which completed last February. 

London-headquartered Viagogo and StubHub, which had previously been owned by eBay, together hold a market share of more than 90pc in the UK secondary ticketing market, and had been the first and second largest players in the space. 

As part of its analysis, the regulator had assessed whether users may also be using social media and classified ad sites to buy and sell tickets, but said neither avenue was established enough to stop the Viagogo-StubHub business from hiking prices.

Stuart McIntosh, chair of the CMA inquiry group, said: "After examining all the options, including unwinding the merger in full, the evidence shows that viagogo selling StubHub’s international business will resolve our competition concerns, effectively and proportionately.

“Creating a fully independent StubHub international business will maintain competition in the UK and help ensure that the users of these ticketing platforms don’t face higher prices or poorer quality of service."

A spokesman for Viagogo said: "We are pleased to have found a remedy that is acceptable to the CMA that will allow everyone involved to move forward with clarity and certainty. Importantly, both viagogo and StubHub will continue to provide a safe and secure platform for people to buy and sell tickets to events all over the world."