Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in US Congress have put the spotlight on the recent revelation that StubHub boss Eric Baker is also part owner and Managing Director of another company that is involved in commercial ticket touting on the StubHub platform.
Representative Robert Garcia has written to Baker confirming that he and his colleagues “are investigating whether you have manipulated markets for your own benefit, while Americans are left paying higher costs in an unfair system”.
Commenting on that letter, Garcia says that the reports Baker “may have profited from a ticket brokerage while running one of the nation’s largest ticket marketplaces are deeply troubling”. If true, he adds, “this is a blatant conflict of interest that raises serious questions about whether consumers were treated fairly”, and therefore “we are demanding answers because the American people deserve transparency”.
StubHub likes to call itself a “marketplace for fans to buy and sell tickets”, when it’s widely known that ticket resale sites like StubHub and its sister platform Viagogo rely heavily on a small number of industrial level touts who hoover up tickets for in-demand events and sell them on a hiked up prices.
A recent report by CBC highlighted that Baker is directly involved in that industrial-level touting himself via a second business called Andro Capital. His involvement in that company was logged with the US Securities & Exchange Commission when StubHub listed on the New York Stock Exchange last year.
In his letter to Baker, Garcia writes “according to SEC filings, you are part owner and Managing Director of Andro Capital”, a company which has been “trading tickets on the StubHub platform since 2008 and racking up millions in payments from StubHub”.
StubHub also has a relationship with an affiliate of Andro Capital called Colloquy Capital, Garcia notes, which seemingly provides financing to other commercial touts and “StubHub has an agreement to refer StubHub sellers to Colloquy for financing”.
The connections between StubHub and these other companies “poses ethical concerns”, Garcia goes on in his letter to Baker, before adding, “your alleged collusion with these funds also raises serious concerns about whether you have engaged in market manipulation and self-dealing at the expense of consumers”.
To that end, Garcia has demanded that Baker answer a series of questions about the relationship between StubHub, Andro Capital and Colloquy Capital by 6 Aug.
The revelation of Baker’s involvement in Andro Capital has also resulted in a class action lawsuit being filed by a StubHub customer. And it may also weigh against StubHub’s lobbyists as they seek to block increased regulation of ticket touting in various US states as well as at a federal level in Congress.