- Bending Spoons acquires Eventbrite for $500 million to revive operations
- Purchase price reflects sharp drop since Eventbrite’s 2018 IPO
- Eventbrite shareholders receive $4.50 per share, an 81% premium immediately
Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Eventbrite for approximately $500 million, marking another addition to its portfolio of well-known but stagnant software companies.
The purchase price is much lower than Eventbrite’s $1.76 billion valuation in its 2018 initial public offering, reflecting years of stagnant revenue and slow growth.
The company intends to revive the brand by implementing operational changes similar to previous acquisitions, including Evernote, Meetup, Vimeo and AOL.
Conditions of the agreement and impact for investors
Audited financial statements show that Eventbrite’s annual revenue remained stable at approximately $325 million for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
This flat performance necessitated intervention to restore Eventbrite’s growth trajectory.
The deal gives Eventbrite shareholders $4.50 per share in cash, representing an 81 percent premium over the previous day’s closing price of $2.48.
Bending Spoons values Eventbrite at about 1.7 times its trailing-twelve-month revenue of $295 million.
While this multiple appears low compared to high-growth technology acquisitions, the structure reflects the company’s intention to focus on profitability rather than rapid expansion.
Eventbrite shareholders earn immediate returns, while Bending Spoons is positioned to manage long-term operations without external exit pressure or short-term investment horizons.
Bending Spoons follows a model of acquiring companies with strong brands but stagnant business performance.
Unlike traditional private equity firms, the company plans to hold Eventbrite indefinitely.
Its goal is to increase profitability through operational efficiencies, cost reductions, price adjustments, and improvements in product features.
This strategy mirrors approaches used by other investors in similar “zombie venture” companies.
Examples include Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, SaaS.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital.
According to Andrew Dumont, founder of Curious, these companies buy companies with low valuations and quickly adjust them to achieve profit margins of 20 to 30 percent.
Eventbrite’s history as a private company includes raising approximately $330 million in venture capital from top investors such as Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management.
Bending Spoons’ recent $270 million funding round valued the company at $11 billion, providing it with substantial capital resources to support acquisitions.
Eventbrite’s established presence in the event and ticketing market gives Bending Spoons a brand it can leverage.
The company plans to implement operational changes, including cost management, pricing strategies and product improvements, to boost performance.
That said, it remains uncertain how quickly these measures can achieve meaningful results, given the complexity of revitalizing a stagnant business.
Through TechCrunch
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