StubHub late yesterday announced President & CEO CHRIS TSAKALAKIS is leaving the S.F.-based secondary ticketing giant, effective immediately. The move ends a tenure that began in ’07 and an overall 11-year stay within parent company eBay. Company officials did not outline a reason for the departure, but Tsakalakis’ departure falls within a period of marked upheaval within eBay in which the corporation planning to split next year from digital payments outfit PayPal into two separate companies. Sources said Tsakalakis’ departure was voluntary, and comes just days after StubHub posted company record sales in October, fueled in part by robust sales of playoff and World Series tickets for the hometown MLB Giants. During Tsakalakis’ nearly eight-year run leading StubHub, the company grew annual revenue tenfold to more than $2B, signed two major deals with MLBAM, struck a deep partnership with Paciolan within college sports ticketing, helped turn StubHub into a mainstream brand name and oversaw the creation of a naming-rights deal for StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. “During his tenure, StubHub has grown into the largest ticket marketplace in the world,” the company said in a statement. It added Tsakalakis "has been an avid champion for customers and has made a focus on fans central to the StubHub DNA.” A source close to Tsakalakis said, “Chris is a builder, and it was probably time for a new challenge.”
SECOND RECENT MAJOR DEPARTURE: Tsakalakis’ departure marks the second major exec for the reseller to leave within the last five months, following Global Head of Business Development & Partnerships DANIELLE MAGED in June. Tsakalakis ranked No. 41 last year in SportsBusiness Journal’s annual list of the top 50 most influential execs in sports business. StubHub’s North American lead, NOAH GOLDBERG, and CFO & Head of Strategy AJAY GOPAL will lead the company during the interim, and a search for Tsakalakis’ successor is underway. Despite StubHub’s dominant position in the secondary ticket world, the company faces heightened competition through recent entries such as Ticketmaster’s TM+ product, and went through a period of layoffs over the summer. And a broad introduction by StubHub of upfront pricing that lists all purchasing fees early in a ticket search process has been met with mixed reviews.
