- Bending Spoons acquires Eventbrite for $500M to revive business
- The purchase price reflects a sharp decline since Eventbrite’s 2018 IPO.
- Eventbrite shareholders will immediately receive $4.50 per share, an 81% premium.
Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Eventbrite for about $500 million, expanding its portfolio of well-known but established software companies.
The purchase price is well below Eventbrite’s $1.76 billion valuation when it went public in 2018, after years of stagnant sales and slow growth.
The company plans to revitalize the brand by making operational changes similar to previous acquisitions, including Evernote, Meetup, Vimeo and AOL.
Contract terms and consequences for investors
Audited financial statements show Eventbrite’s annual revenue remained flat at about $325 million over the two fiscal years, 2023 and 2024.
This stagnant performance required intervention to restore Eventbrite’s growth trajectory.
The deal will give Eventbrite shareholders $4.50 per share in cash, an 81% premium to the previous day’s closing price of $2.48.
Bending Spoons values Eventbrite at about 1.7 times trailing 12-month revenue of $295 million.
While this figure may seem small compared to fast-growing technology acquisitions, the structure reflects the company’s intention to focus on profitability rather than rapid expansion.
Eventbrite shareholders benefit from immediate returns, while Bending Spoons is positioned to manage long-term operations without pressure from external exits or short-term investment horizons.
Bending Spoons follows a model of acquiring companies with strong brands but stagnant business results.
Unlike traditional private equity firms, the company plans to retain Eventbrite indefinitely.
The goal is to increase profitability through operational efficiency, cost reduction, price adjustments and improved product functionality.
This strategy mirrors the approach of other investors in similar “zombie” 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 scale up quickly to reach a profit margin of between 20 and 30%.
Eventbrite’s history as a private company includes raising approximately $330 million in venture capital from high-profile investors such as Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management.
Bending Spoon’s latest $270 million funding round valued the company at $11 billion, giving it significant capital resources to support acquisitions.
Eventbrite’s established presence in the event and ticketing market gives Bending Spoons a brand to build on.
The company plans to implement operational changes including cost management, pricing strategies and product enhancements to improve performance.
However, it is unclear how quickly these measures can produce meaningful results, given the complexities of reviving a struggling company.
IN TechCrunch