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viagogo

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viagogo
Company typePrivate
Industrye-commerce
FoundedLondon, UK (2005)
HeadquartersLondon, UK
Key people
Eric Baker, Founder & CEO
Productsonline secondary ticketing, online ticket exchange
Website[1]

Viagogo (marketed as viagogo) is an online ticket exchange, that allows people to buy and sell live event tickets at any price, including above and below face value. For a percentage fee, Viagogo manages and guarantees payment for and delivery of the tickets.

Founded

The company was founded by Eric Baker, the co-founder of Stubhub in the United States.[1] Eric wrote the business model for StubHub while in business school at Stanford[citation needed], but left StubHub in 2004 due to a falling out with his co-founder.[2] Eric then decided to take the now-proven business model to Europe and founded viagogo to accomplish this.[1]

Launch

Viagogo was launched in late summer 2006 with partnerships with Chelsea FC and Manchester United,[1][3][4][5][6] the first such deals of their kind in Europe.[citation needed] These deals let season ticket holders sell tickets to matches they cannot attend to other club members. In return, the clubs will receive yearly six-figure sums from viagogo.[7] Despite the fact that similar football tickets often sell illegally for a much higher premium, some fans have claimed the fees charged by the site are "disgusting" and "legalised touting".[7] On the Portsmouth F.C. Viagogo exchange, the charge to the buyer is 20% on top of the selling price as well as any applicable delivery cost and VAT charges. "Buy and Sell FAQ".

Restrictions

Under British law, unauthorized re-selling of Premier League and other football tickets is illegal, a restriction introduced by the Government to prevent hooliganism. By working with the clubs to obtain official authorization, viagogo is permitted to resell tickets to the clubs it works with, thus effectively giving viagogo a government-protected monopoly by being the only place where tickets to those clubs can be legally resold. Critics have suggested that this is legalised exploitation by the Football Clubs.

Partnerships

Sport viagogo has launched several other partnerships with many world class sports properties, including English football club Aston Villa FC, West Ham and rugby clubs including London Wasps,[8] as well as Germany's leading football club FC Bayern München. Viagogo has also since announced partnerships with Warner Music[9] (the first time a major music label has partnered with a secondary ticketing company), Peter Gabriel[10] (the first time a major artist has partnered with a secondary ticketing company), lastminute.com,[11] and Amnesty International.[12]

Expansion

On August 6, 2007, viagogo announced its expansion into North America in an exclusive partnership with the Cleveland Browns, an American National Football League team.[13] To date viagogo has presence in 25 countries including the aforementioned UK and USA and also Germany, Netherlands, France, Finland, Italy, Austria, Spain, Rep. of Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Australia, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Poland.

viagogo is now the largest secondary ticket company in Europe with presence in 25 countries and according to Hitwise the number 1 ticket exchange during the month of January 2011. viagogo is the only secondary ticket company with presence in Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania.

Backers

Viagogo is backed by Index Ventures.

References

  1. ^ a b c Auchard, Eric (17 August 2006). "European sports ticket reseller Web site unveiled". Reuters. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  2. ^ Charny, Ben (17 August 2006). "Online ticket scalping comes to Europe". Marketwatch from Dow Jones. MarketWatch, Inc. Retrieved 20 August 2006.
  3. ^ The Times (18 August 2006). "Football ticket resales kick off". The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  4. ^ Sweney, Mark (18 August 2006). "Clubs launch ticket resale site". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  5. ^ "Tackling the touts". bbc.co.uk. BBC Manchester. 18 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2006.
  6. ^ "Ticket exchange: clubs target touts". ITN News. 18 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2006.
  7. ^ a b Bowers, Simon (18 August 2006). "Fans condemn 'legalised touting' of season tickets". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  8. ^ "viagogo expands into English rugby". sportsbusiness.com. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2007.
  9. ^ "Warner signs secondary ticket deal with Viagogo". Reuters. 9 May 2007. Retrieved 15 May2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Elders Gather to Save Global Village". thisisbath.co.uk. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
  11. ^ "lastminute extends offer with sports tickets". NMA. 19 April 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |&PipelinedPage= ignored (help)
  12. ^ "Eric Baker scores big with his online ticket exchange". McKinsey News. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2007.
  13. ^ "Ticket Taker". Forbes. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
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