Events.com announced today that it is acquiring the assets of the global ticketing company Brown Paper Tickets (BPT), with customers in over 120 countries. BPT’s technology has processed and paid event organizers over 1 billion dollars in ticket sales and registrations since its inception. It has provided event ticketing and registration services online for over 20 years, helping event organizers worldwide promote and sell out events. BPT’s team and technology are excellent additions to the Events.com platform, which delivers a wide range of software and services through several brands that power event discovery, ticketing, sponsorship, marketing, and management. The transaction will extend the Events.com footprint and provide BPT with ample resources for growth and development, accelerating its recovery from the pandemic.
Several acquisitions have been announced recently by Events.com, and the company is seeking to acquire additional event management and event technology companies and assets.
In advance of the acquisition, Events.com has partnered with BPT to support its efforts to refund ticket holders and assist event organizers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To accelerate BPT’s recovery and provide event customers with cash refunds rather than credits that much of the industry has issued, Events.com will continue to advance additional payments to BPT, enabling them to accelerate their payouts.
Unique in the industry, BPT is one of just a handful of ticketing companies that made it its mission to refund all customers and organizations for events canceled due to the pandemic, and perhaps the only company that decided to refund all service fees to affected customers.
As one of the industry’s only independent event ticketing companies, BPT was hit especially hard by the pandemic. BPT’s team of dedicated employees, with financial support from Events.com, has already paid event organizers over 39 million dollars since January 2020 and has processed tens of thousands of refunds and payments to event organizers. As a result of Events.com’s support in advance of the acquisition and its future support, BPT will continue to process all remaining refunds and payments to customers impacted by delayed payments due to the global pandemic.
“We’re proud to partner with Brown Paper Tickets and support the company’s decision to refund ticket holders, event organizers, venues, and entertainment partners affected by industry-wide shutdowns and the aftermath of the pandemic,” said Mitch Thrower, Events.com’s Founder and CEO. “It’s not only the right thing to do but a strong affirmation of one of Events.com’s core principles – to help event organizers and attendees. We truly are happy and excited to support Brown Paper Tickets and its customers, providing them with a solid reset with strong capital backing to help them get back on their feet. We are proud to bring the BPT team into the Events.com family and work with them on innovative new products and services.”
Stephen Partridge, President, COO, and Founder at Events.com emphasized that BPT clients can now use Events.com for all event lifecycle needs, whether they want to continue using BPT’s ticketing system or Events.com’s integrated ticketing technology. “It is with great pleasure that Events.com has developed a special price-matching program for all current and prior BPT customers, benefiting from the standard Events.com immediate payments program. As part of our strategy, we offer traditional ticketing companies like BPT access to Events.com’s platform that redefines the event industry. We are in many ways more like partners with event technology companies than we are direct competitors with them. The team at Events.com is excited about the opportunity to improve BPT’s system and add more value for their clients. We also welcome organizers who would like to switch to the Events.com platform.”
After disrupting the ticketing industry with its low-cost, not-just-for-profit business model, BPT has processed more than 1 billion dollars in event tickets and transactions worldwide. The independently owned and operated company’s acquisition by Events.com will jumpstart innovative new product offerings for their customers around the globe. The company will continue operating under the BPT name and with the same dedicated employee team and plans to grow its team in 2023. Based in Seattle, the company’s global footprint serves customers in more than 120 countries.
Tune in to Martech Cube Podcast for visionary Martech Trends, Martech News, and quick updates by business experts and leaders!!!