Eric Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eric H. Baker May 1973 (age 50) Los Angeles, California, US |
| Education |
Harvard College Stanford Business School |
| Known for | Founder and CEO,
Viagogo Co-founder, StubHub |
Eric H. Baker (born May 1973) is an American businessman, the founder and CEO of Viagogo, and co-founder of StubHub.
Early life
Baker was born in May 1973. [1] He was born and grew up in Los Angeles.[ clarification needed] [2] [3] Baker graduated from Harvard College in 1995, and received an MBA from Stanford Business School in 2001. [4]
Career
Baker worked for McKinsey & Company for two years, and then Bain Capital, a private equity firm in Boston. [4] [3]
Baker co-founded StubHub in 2000, with fellow Stanford classmate Jeff Fluhr, initially as part of a Stanford competition from which they withdrew after being chosen as finalists due to concerns that someone might take their idea. [3] [2] While Fluhr dropped out of Stanford to focus on StubHub full-time, Baker opted to not immediately join the company. [5] While he was completing his MBA, the site launched without him in October 2000. He rejoined StubHub as its president in 2001. [6] However, Baker and Fluhr clashed on the direction of the company and Baker was fired from StubHub in 2004. [5] StubHub was sold to eBay in 2007 for $310 million. [3] [7]
In 2006, Baker founded Viagogo, and has been its CEO since then. [6] He owns Viagogo through a company called Pugnacious Endeavors, which is based in Delaware. [2] [8] In 2020, Viagogo completed it's acquisition of StubHub out of Ebay, with the combined company rebranding as StubHub and Baker as CEO. [5]
In May 2018, BBC News reported that the UK Government's digital minister advised that consumers should not use Viagogo, one of the big four secondary ticket sites. Margot James said: “Don’t choose Viagogo - they are the worst”. [9]
In August 2018, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority took Viagogo to the High Court for breaking the law; Baker did not issue any comment or statement. The company reached a resolution with the CMA in November 2018. [10]
In January 2019, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Eric Baker risked jail over failure to properly protect customers. [11]
References
- ^ "CONSOLIDATED INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Viagogo: who runs it and who owns it? | Money". The Guardian. March 24, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Eric Baker: Respectable face of ticket touting". Telegraph. January 12, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ a b "Eric Baker – Founder and CEO, Viagogo.com – MusicTank". Musictank.co.uk. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ a b c Kirsch, Noah. "The Worst Deal Ever: The Inside Story Of The Epically Bad Decision By StubHub's Cofounder To Buy His Company Back". Forbes. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ a b "Eric H. Baker: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ "The Tale Behind StubHub's Sale: How Eric Baker Bought Back the Ticket Seller". Wall Street Journal. November 29, 2019.
- ^ "Viagogo CEO Eric Baker throws down $23.5 million cash in the Beverly Hills Flats". Dirt. October 9, 2018.
- ^ Johnston, Chris (May 30, 2018). "Don't buy tickets from Viagogo, minister warns". BBC News. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ "Viagogo ordered to clean up ticket sales". BBC News. November 27, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ^ Davies, Rob (January 24, 2019). "Viagogo: directors risk jail over failure to properly protect customers" – via www.theguardian.com.
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