- RedBall Acquisition said is in talks with SeatGeek about a potential business combination.
- RedBall Acquisition is a sports-industry-focused SPAC led in part by Oakland A's exec Billy Beane.
RedBall Acquisition, a special acquisition purpose company led in part by Oakland A's executive Billy Beane, is in talks about a deal to combine with ticket platform SeatGeek.
RedBall's statement on Friday confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg about discussions taking place between the SPAC focused on the sports industry and the privately held company whose search engine is used to find and buy tickets for sports events and concerts.
Shares of RedBall Acquisition were halted Friday afternoon pending a statement. The stock this year has lost about 9%.
A deal, if reached, could be announced as earlier as this week, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
"There is no assurance that a definitive agreement will be signed," said RedBall about its discussions with SeatGeek about a "possible" business combination. No potential terms were included in RedBall's statement.
RedBall, whose August 2020 IPO raised $575 million, had reportedly been in talks earlier this year to acquire a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group but the discussions ended. Fenway Sports Group runs the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Liverpool Football Club, a soccer team that's part of England's Premier League.
RedBall's management team includes Beane, whose use of analytical data to hire new players for the Oakland A's slim budget is chronicled in Michael Lewis' 2003 book "Moneyball" about baseball economics. The book was later turned into a 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt as Beane.
RedBall is also run by Gerald Cardinale, who after 20 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs founded investment firm RedBird. He also co-created the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, or YES.