StubHub posted record quarterly revenue. It also posted essentially zero profit. The culprit: a World Cup ticketing meltdown that left paying customers locked outside stadiums, triggered a wave of lawsuits, and sent the stock tumbling more than 10% in a single session.
Shares of StubHub Holdings fell between 10% and 16% on August 13, the day after the company reported second-quarter 2026 earnings. The results told a split-screen story: $573.1 million in revenue (up 33% year-over-year) paired with a 37% jump in expenses that dragged net income to roughly breakeven. A record top line, effectively erased before it reached the bottom one.
What went wrong
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across North America, was supposed to be a windfall for ticket resellers. StubHub reported $3.1 billion in gross merchandise sales for the quarter, a 34% year-over-year increase. Demand was enormous.
Delivery was the problem. Starting in June, buyers began receiving notifications, sometimes just hours before kickoff, that their purchased tickets could not be transferred. Fans who had traveled internationally and spent thousands of dollars found themselves standing outside venues with nothing but a confirmation email and a rising sense of fury.
