SeatGeek takes a seat at the SPAC discussion table while Thrasio stands up

RedBall Acquisition Corp. (RBAC), a blank-check firm led by ‘Moneyball’ subject Billy Beane and RedBird Capital Partners’ Gerry Cardinale, is in advanced talks to merge with SeatGeek, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A deal, if agreed, could be announced as soon as next week, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Terms of the transaction couldn’t immediately be learned. As with all deals that aren’t yet finalized, it’s possible that the talks could fall apart.

A representative for RedBall declined to comment and SeatGeek didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

SeatGeek is a platform which enables buying and selling of tickets for sports, concerts, theater and other live events. It partners with names including the Dallas Cowboys, Brooklyn Nets and Manchester City FC, according to its website. 

The RedBall SPAC last year held talks with the owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, Fenway Sports Group, though those talks collapsed. New York-based SeatGeek was last valued at $571 million, according to PitchBook data, which lists investors including Glynn Capital.

RedBall Acquisition Corp. confirms that it is in exclusive discussions with SeatGeek, Inc. in connection with a possible business combination. There is no assurance that a definitive agreement will be signed. The Company will not comment further unless and until a transaction is agreed or discussions are terminated.

Thrasio, the top U.S. aggregator of Amazon third-party sellers, was racing to the public markets to fuel its rapid expansion. But the company has delayed its plan to go public through a SPAC amid complications with its financial audits, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Thrasio had eyed completing a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company by the end of the year, before changing course over the summer, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been discussed publicly. The company could still pursue a SPAC, but is also considering other financing options, including a traditional IPO, the people said.

Turnover in the C-suite is adding to Thrasio’s challenges. Chief Financial Officer Bill Wafford, a former J.C. Penney CFO, left Thrasio in July, just three months after joining the company. Thrasio said it appointed Brian Cooper, chairman of marketing company Networx, as its interim CFO

And last month, co-founder Josh Silberstein resigned from his role as co-CEO, leaving fellow co-founder Carlos Cashman to serve as the company’s sole CEO.

Bloomberg reported in June that Thrasio was in talks to go public through a merger with a SPAC led by former Citigroup executive Michael Klein [Churchill Capital Corp V (CCV)] at a valuation that could top as much as $10 billion. The auditing process proved more difficult than for a typical e-commerce or tech company, because Thrasio now oversees more than 200 Amazon brands, creating a complex balance sheet, the source said.

Daniel Boockvar, Thrasio’s president, confirmed to CNBC on Friday that the company has decided not to pursue a SPAC for the time being, though he said, “We never announced firm plans to go public via SPAC.”

“Ultimately, our leadership team and our board looked at the market, which is no surprise, and decided that going public via SPAC is not the right choice at this time,” Boockvar said in an interview. “We’re growing our business amazingly well privately and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do.”

Boockvar declined to comment on whether the company is considering an IPO or other financing options in the future, but said “all options are available to us.”

Thrasio, which was founded in 2018, and its peers, like Perch, Heyday and Branded, scale up by buying promising products and storefronts, with the goal of using their data and operational expertise to turbocharge sales. At least 77 Amazon aggregators have raised roughly $10 billion in total since April 2020, according to Marketplace Pulse.