Milan-based private equity firm Bending Spoons acquired Eventbrite this week, paying a mere $500 million for a formerly high-flying San Francisco tech company that went public in a $1.8 billion IPO in 2018.
Bending Spoons — which has acquired a string of passé tech brands, like Evernote, Vimeo, and AOL — essentially utilizes a private equity turnaround strategy for older companies, slashing costs and juicing profits. It scoops up apps that have brand recognition but “untapped potential,” according to CEO Luca Ferrari (opens in new tab).
The sale represents a fall from grace for Eventbrite, which was once a Silicon Valley darling. Its 2018 public market debut represented a high-water mark for a company that suffered a series of shocks when the pandemic brought live events to a halt. It also symbolizes the risk of subjecting a mid-cap tech business to the scrutiny of the public markets.
Bending Spoons, an $11 billion conglomerate, has been on a spending spree. In addition to Eventbrite, in the last few months, it purchased Vimeo and AOL. It bought WeTransfer in 2024 and Evernote in 2022.
After an acquisition, the “Spooners” (their name, not ours) go in and revamp the company.
“We talk to literally every single person in the acquired organization. We try to get our hands dirty,” Ferrari said on a podcast posted by the company (opens in new tab). “We run ongoing projects and study, sometimes, every line of code in a huge code base.”
This sometimes results in mass layoffs; in Evernote’s case, nearly the entire staff was let go as part of a relocation to Europe. Ferrari touted the strategy, telling Bloomberg (opens in new tab) that Evernote became profitable less than two years after the acquisition.
Eventbrite had 748 employees by the end of 2024 (opens in new tab) and reported $325.1 million in revenue and a net loss of $15.6 million for the year. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Eventbrite was founded in 2006 by spouses Kevin and Julia Hartz, alongside former environmental engineer Renaud Visage, and became the go-to events platform for everything from Bay Area tech conferences to speed-dating parties in New York City. “They were the hip and cool hyped company in Silicon Valley,” said Julius Solaris, a consultant for events companies and an industry analyst.
But during the pandemic, the company lost 90% of its revenue in two weeks. “Even if you have spent 14 years building something, it could truly be gone in 14 days,” CEO Julia Hartz said on the “Crucible Moments” podcast. (opens in new tab)
The company went through waves of layoffs: 45% of the staff was cut in 2020, 8% in 2023, and 11% in 2024. “They got hammered during the pandemic,” Solaris said. “I was questioning post-pandemic, since 2021, 2022, when everybody was coming back — what was their strategy?”
He said the company seemed to oscillate between selling marketing tools to businesses — like the 2021 launch of its ad product Boost — and positioning itself as a consumer discovery platform. “Obviously, they were feeling the pressure of Luma and Partiful,” he said, referencing event platforms launched during the pandemic that have won over Gen Z.
Although Ferrari says Bending Spoons is in it for the long haul with its acquisitions, Eventbrite’s competitors clearly see the deal as an opportunity to grab market share. “If you’re selling tickets on Eventbrite,” Luma cofounder Victor Pontis posted (opens in new tab). “I’d be happy to help you onboard to Luma.”