StubHub Holdings, Inc. Class A

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to StubHub's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference call is being recorded today, May 13, 2026. I will now turn the call over to Jonathan Schaffer, SVP, Investor Relations with StubHub.

Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us to discuss StubHub's first quarter 2026 results. For reference, our first quarter earnings release and presentation are available under the quarterly results section of our investor relations website at investors.stubhub.com. Before we begin, please note that today's call will include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Although the company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can make no assurance related to its expectations. We refer you to our recent FCC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. We will also refer to non-GAAP measures on today's call. Unless otherwise noted, our profitability and EBITDA discussions today refer to non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA. A reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is contained in today's earnings release available on our investor relations site. All financial comparisons, unless noted otherwise, are based on the prior year period. Joining me today are Eric Baker, our Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, and Connie James, our Chief Financial Officer. They will provide opening remarks and then take questions. And with that, I'll turn it over to Eric.

Eric, you may begin. Thanks, Jonathan, and welcome everyone joining us today. We're off to a positive start in 2026 with solid top line growth and increased profitability. GMS increased 7% to $2.2 billion, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 16%. We also generated healthy cash flow, which enabled us to further deleverage and strengthen our balance sheet. As a result, we are reiterating our full-year outlook for GMS and adjusted EBITDA. On our year-end call in March, we outlined our three key priorities for StubHub in 2026. growth in our core resale marketplace, increased profitability, and advancement of longer-term distribution opportunities. The quarter demonstrated our team's execution against all three of these objectives. Starting with growth in our core resale marketplace, we are leveraging our leadership position and scale to drive performance, both in North America and globally. The live events and secondary ticketing markets remain healthy with strong consumer demand and a robust 2026 event calendar. In addition to favorable market dynamics, our resell business is also benefiting from advantages resulting from our increased scale. In 2025, we invested in our competitive position. Increasing liquidity and selection and building the infrastructure to support continuous improvement to the customer experience. In 2026, we are realizing the returns on these investments in the form of superior market leadership and even greater operating advantages. We believe our leading position, combined with inherent flywheels of our marketplace model, allow us to improve customer acquisition economics while growing the business. Of course, our market leadership is a direct result of our relentless focus on the consumer experience. StubHub's mission has always been to make it easier for fans to access live entertainment. Our resale marketplace allows fans to buy and sell tickets with choice, convenience, and trust. We deliver a differentiated experience to consumers based on our scale advantages. Fans choose StubHub because we offer broad selection, trusted transactions, and a simple user experience. Sellers depend on StubHub for aggregated demand at global scale. Our technology and data connect both sides of the marketplace more effectively over time. That is what makes our consumer experience unique and creates durable competitive advantages. All of this adds up to what we believe is the most recognized brand in the resale market for live events. In the first quarter, we made progress in expanding the supply side of our marketplace beyond individual and professional sellers to enterprise scale sellers, including content rights holders, such as professional sports teams, artists, venues, and other event organizers. We believe it is clear the market is heading in the direction of non-exclusive, open distribution. The ticketing ecosystem, including consumers, stands to gain from greater optionality and competition. Fans want more access and choice, and content rights holders want to fill more seats by offering inventory through more channels. Much like airlines selling tickets across platforms, the goal for content rights holders is to sell more tickets at more efficient prices and maximize the fan experience and value of each event through event optimization. It appears the regulatory environment is also recognizing the value of non-exclusive open distribution. A recent proposal to settle an antitrust suit in the live event space included non-exclusive distribution, reinforcing the importance of giving content rights holders and consumers greater choice in how tickets are distributed, discovered, and purchased. On our last call, we discussed our shift from a business development-led approach to a more product-led, self-serve platform strategy. Our goal is to enable broader adoption of open distribution across rights holders by creating a seamless experience to list, manage, and distribute tickets through our marketplace. In the first quarter, we announced two new developments that illustrate how we can use technology to access this market. The first is Distribution Manager, an AI-powered, self-serve tool that allows artists, teams, and venues to list and manage tickets directly through StubHub. The product is designed to remove friction for rights holders and does not require a technical team or complex integration. A partner can use a simple prompt to identify ticket types, set pricing and sales parameters, and list inventory directly on StubHub. Because the tool sits on top of more than 25 years of StubHub Marketplace data, It can also provide real-time pricing and demand signals to content rights holders before tickets go live. This is an early iteration of the tooling we plan to continue developing for enterprise-scale content. It is designed to make distribution simpler, more flexible, and more effective for rights holders, while increasing access and selection for fans. We are also establishing direct connections with primary ticketing platforms. By integrating directly with StubHub, primary ticketing or access control providers can work alongside our marketplace to improve outcomes for rights holders and fans. Today, event organizers often list tickets exclusively through their primary sales channel with systems that were not designed to synchronize inventory across channels, making it difficult to expand distribution without added complexity. Open distribution, formerly known as direct issuance, changes that. By integrating directly with the ticketing platforms organizers already use, we can give rights holders access to StubHub's global demand without requiring them to change systems, disrupt their existing workflows, or enter new distribution contracts. For example, in the first quarter, we announced an integration with a primary ticketing company that tickets rights holders like Stanford University Athletics, among others. Through a direct connection between the primary system and StubHub's marketplace, organizers can choose to list tickets on StubHub within their existing dashboard. Integrations like this enable all of the primary's clients to activate StubHub as an additional distribution channel through a simple workflow. We also continue to develop advertising, which represents an exciting opportunity to realize additional potential of our leading marketplace platform. StubHub sits at the intersection of high intent consumer demand and live event discovery. Over time, we believe that creates opportunities to help partners reach fans in highly relevant ways while improving the overall experience on our platform. We are in the testing phase with advertising, and our focus remains on building it thoughtfully and in a way that is consistent with our broader consumer-first approach. In April, we announced an integration with Anthropix Cloud that lets fans discover and browse live events. Cloud users can access StubHub's global catalog of live events with up to the minute price and seat level availability. The partnership builds on StubHub's ChatGBT integration announced at the end of last year. We view AI through two lenses, the opportunity to transform the end user product and the ability to transform productivity internally through greater and faster innovation with higher efficiency. We have several AI initiatives underway related to post-purchase support, customer experience enhancement, product development, and expanded insights, just to name a few. In conclusion, we are off to a positive start to 2026 with solid first quarter results that position us to achieve our financial outlook for the year. Our core resale marketplace continues to grow while increasing profitability. We are generating strong cash flow and strengthening the balance sheet. And we are continuing to invest in technology and distribution opportunities that we believe will expand our reach over time. We remain focused on executing in pursuit of our vision, to build the global destination for consumers to access live entertainment. With that, I'll turn it over to Connie to discuss our financial results and outlook in more detail.