Vivid Seats Inc. Segments Disclosure
5. Segment Reporting
Operating segments are defined as components of an entity for which discrete financial information is available and is regularly reviewed by the entity’s Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) in making decisions regarding resource allocation and performance assessment. Our CODM is our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”).
We have determined that we have two operating and reportable segments: Marketplace and Resale. In our Marketplace segment, we primarily act as an intermediary between ticket buyers, sellers, and partners within our online ticket marketplace, through which we earn revenue processing ticket sales for live events and attractions and from facilitating the booking of hotel rooms and packages. In our Resale segment, we primarily acquire tickets to resell on secondary ticket marketplaces, including our own.
For both segments, our CODM uses contribution margin (defined as revenues less cost of revenues and marketing and selling expenses) as a means to allocate resources, evaluate performance, and make strategic decisions during the annual budgeting and forecasting process. Contribution margin forms the basis for measuring trends in performance and comparing the relative potential of various initiatives.
Cost of revenues largely consist of payment processing fees for our Marketplace segment and ticket costs for our Resale segment. Marketing and selling expenses, which relate entirely to our Marketplace segment, consist almost entirely of advertising costs. Most advertising costs are aimed towards acquiring new customers online through paid search engine marketing, fees paid to our advertising affiliates and distributors, and other various digital marketing activities. However, to a lesser extent, advertising costs are also aimed towards acquiring new customers offline through traditional media channels, advertising agency costs, and partnership expenses with sports teams and other media partners.
We do not report assets, capital expenditures, general and administrative expenses, or depreciation and amortization expenses by segment because our CODM does not use this information to evaluate the performance of our operating segments.
The following tables summarize our segment information for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023 (in thousands):
|
|
Year Ended December 31, 2025 |
|
|||||||||
|
|
Marketplace |
|
|
Resale |
|
|
Total |
|
|||
Revenues |
|
$ |
450,509 |
|
|
$ |
120,267 |
|
|
$ |
570,776 |
|
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below) |
|
|
72,084 |
|
|
|
101,354 |
|
|
|
173,438 |
|
Marketing and selling: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Online advertising |
|
|
208,507 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
208,507 |
|
Offline advertising |
|
|
22,055 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
22,055 |
|
Total marketing and selling |
|
|
230,562 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
230,562 |
|
Contribution margin |
|
|
147,863 |
|
|
|
18,913 |
|
|
|
166,776 |
|
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
173,880 |
|
||
Depreciation and amortization |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
49,392 |
|
||
Impairment charges |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
723,023 |
|
||
Loss from operations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(779,519 |
) |
||
Interest expense – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,741 |
|
||
Other income – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(151,956 |
) |
||
Loss on extinguishment of debt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
801 |
|
||
Loss before income taxes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
(652,105 |
) |
||
|
|
Year Ended December 31, 2024 |
|
|||||||||
|
|
Marketplace |
|
|
Resale |
|
|
Total |
|
|||
Revenues |
|
$ |
647,891 |
|
|
$ |
127,695 |
|
|
$ |
775,586 |
|
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below) |
|
|
99,460 |
|
|
|
102,394 |
|
|
|
201,854 |
|
Marketing and selling: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Online advertising |
|
|
261,188 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
261,188 |
|
Offline advertising |
|
|
23,958 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
23,958 |
|
Total marketing and selling |
|
|
285,146 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
285,146 |
|
Contribution margin |
|
|
263,285 |
|
|
|
25,301 |
|
|
|
288,586 |
|
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
202,123 |
|
||
Depreciation and amortization |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
44,238 |
|
||
Income from operations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
42,225 |
|
||
Interest expense – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23,172 |
|
||
Other income – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(3,666 |
) |
||
Income before income taxes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
22,719 |
|
||
|
|
Year Ended December 31, 2023 |
|
|||||||||
|
|
Marketplace |
|
|
Resale |
|
|
Total |
|
|||
Revenues |
|
$ |
597,388 |
|
|
$ |
115,491 |
|
|
$ |
712,879 |
|
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization shown separately below) |
|
|
94,557 |
|
|
|
87,627 |
|
|
|
182,184 |
|
Marketing and selling: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Online advertising |
|
|
239,335 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
239,335 |
|
Offline advertising |
|
|
34,761 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
34,761 |
|
Total marketing and selling |
|
|
274,096 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
274,096 |
|
Contribution margin |
|
|
228,735 |
|
|
|
27,864 |
|
|
|
256,599 |
|
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
159,081 |
|
||
Depreciation and amortization |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17,178 |
|
||
Change in fair value of contingent consideration |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(998 |
) |
||
Income from operations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
81,338 |
|
||
Interest expense – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13,505 |
|
||
Other income – net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(3,109 |
) |
||
Income before income taxes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
70,942 |
|
||
Substantially all of our sales occur and assets reside in the United States.
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mar 12, 2026 | Showing above |
| 2024 | Mar 12, 2025 | |
| 2023 | Mar 8, 2024 | |
| 2022 | Mar 7, 2023 | |
| 2021 | Mar 15, 2022 | |
About Segments Disclosures
Segment disclosures break a company into its reportable operating units, revealing revenue, profit, and asset allocation that consolidated financial statements obscure. Under ASC 280, segments must match how the chief operating decision maker views the business, providing a window into internal management structure and resource allocation priorities.
Key signals: compare segment margins to identify which units drive profitability and which destroy value. Watch for changes in the number of reportable segments — segment aggregation or disaggregation often coincides with strategic shifts or attempts to obscure declining performance. Intersegment elimination patterns reveal internal pricing practices. The reconciliation between segment totals and consolidated figures exposes corporate overhead allocation and unallocated items. Geographic revenue concentration highlights regulatory and currency exposure. Compare segment-level capital expenditure against segment revenue to assess where management is investing for future growth versus harvesting existing assets.