Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Creator Signing Fees and Creator Advances

Creator signing fees and creator advances represent contractual amounts paid in advance to customers pursuant to event ticketing and payment processing agreements. Certain of the Company’s contracts include terms where future payments to creators are committed to, based on performance, as part of the overall ticketing arrangement. The following table presents, by year, the future creator payments committed to under contract but not yet paid as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):  


	Creator Advances		Creator Signing Fees		Total
2020	$	17,229	$	5,911	$	23,140
2021	11,220		1,535		12,755
2022	4,108		273		4,381
2023	2,700		230		2,930
Thereafter	—		—		—
Total	$	35,257	$	7,949	$	43,206

Purchase Commitments

The following table presents, by year, the future contractual purchase commitments as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):


	Total
2020	$	4,000
Thereafter	—
Total	$	4,000

Litigation and Loss Contingencies

The Company accrues estimates for resolution of legal and other contingencies when losses are probable and estimable. From time to time, the Company may become a party to litigation and subject to claims incident to the ordinary course of business, including intellectual property claims, labor and employment claims, and threatened claims, breach of contract claims, tax and other matters. The matters discussed below summarize the Company's current ongoing pending litigation.

Beginning on April 15, 2019, purported stockholders of the Company filed two putative securities class action complaints in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and three putative securities class action complaints in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo, against the Company, certain of its executives and directors, and its underwriters for the IPO. Some of these actions also name as defendants venture capital firms that were investors in the Company as of the IPO.

On August 22, 2019, the federal court consolidated the two pending actions and appointed lead plaintiffs and lead counsel (the Federal Action). On October 11, 2019, the lead plaintiffs in the Federal Action filed their amended consolidated complaint. The amended complaint generally alleges that the Company misrepresented and/or omitted material information in its IPO offering documents, in violation of the Securities Act of 1933. The amended complaint also challenges public statements made after the IPO in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The amended complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and other relief on behalf of investors who purchased the Company's Class A common stock issued pursuant and/or traceable to the IPO offering documents, or between September 20, 2018 and May 1, 2019, inclusive. On December 11, 2019, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. The hearing on the defendants' motion to dismiss is set for April 9, 2020.

On June 24, 2019, the state court consolidated two state actions pending at that time (the State Action). On July 24, 2019, the two plaintiffs in the State Action filed a consolidated complaint. The consolidated complaint generally alleges that the Company misrepresented and/or omitted material information in the IPO offering documents, in violation of the Securities Act of 1933. The amended complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and other relief on behalf of investors who purchased the Company's Class A common stock issued pursuant and/or traceable to the IPO offering documents. On August 23, 2019, defendants filed demurrers to the consolidated complaint. A third state-court action was filed on August 23, 2019. On September 11, 2019, that complaint was consolidated into the operative complaint filed on July 24, 2019, and the court ordered that the arguments in defendants’ pending demurrers would apply to that newly filed complaint. At the hearing on defendants’ demurrers on November 1, 2019, the court sustained the demurrer with leave to amend. On December 13, 2019, the court granted requests by two plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their claims without prejudice. The remaining plaintiff and two new named plaintiffs filed a first amended consolidated complaint (FAC) on February 10, 2020. Defendants' deadline to file their anticipated demurrers to the FAC is March 26, 2020, and the court has set a hearing on May 1, 2020 to decide the anticipated demurrers.

The Company believes that these actions are without merit and intends to vigorously defend them. The Company cannot predict the outcome of or estimate the possible loss or range of loss from the above described matters.

On July 16, 2019, the Company filed two complaints in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, entitled Eventbrite, Inc. v. MF Live, Inc., et al., 3:19-CV-04084 and Eventbrite, Inc. v. Fab Loranger et al., 3:19-CV-04083 (collectively, the Roxodus Lawsuits). The Roxodus Lawsuits arise out of MF Live’s (MFL) cancellation of the Roxodus music festival in Ontario, Canada, and MFL's and Loranger's subsequent refusals to issue refunds to impacted ticket buyers or to reimburse Eventbrite for payments to such ticket buyers. Eventbrite provided ticketing and payment processing services for the event pursuant to a written contract. When the event was cancelled and MFL refused to issue refunds, Eventbrite issued refunds totaling $4.0 million to ticket buyers who bought tickets on the Eventbrite platform. Pursuant to Eventbrite's Merchant Agreement, MFL was contractually required to reimburse Eventbrite for such refunds, and Loranger had signed a personal guaranty agreement committing to personally honor MFL’s obligations if the entity failed to do so. Accordingly, the Roxodus Lawsuits assert claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, money had and received, and actual and constructive fraudulent transfers.

The Roxodus Lawsuits are in their early stages and the Company cannot predict the likelihood of success. MFL has filed for bankruptcy in Canada, staying Eventbrite's action against the entity. The Company is monitoring and participating in the bankruptcy process pursuant to its rights under Canadian law. Eventbrite's investigation of the assets held by and/or on behalf of MFL, Loranger, and the other defendants is ongoing.

In addition to the litigation discussed above, from time to time, the Company may be subject to legal actions and claims in the ordinary course of business. The Company has received, and may in the future continue to receive, claims from third parties. Future litigation may be necessary to defend the Company or its creators. The results of any current or future litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on the Company because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.

The Company is currently under audit in certain jurisdictions with regard to indirect tax matters. The Company establishes reserves for indirect tax matters when it determines that the likelihood of a loss is probable, and the loss is reasonably estimable. Accordingly, the Company has established a reserve for the potential settlement of issues related to sales and other indirect taxes in the amount of $14.8 million and $19.2 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. These amounts, which represent management’s best estimates of its potential liability, include potential interest and penalties of $1.4 million and $1.2 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The Company does not believe that any ultimate liability resulting from any of these matters will have a material adverse effect on its business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity. However, the outcome of these matters is inherently uncertain. Therefore, if one or more of these matters were resolved against the Company for amounts in excess of management’s expectations, the Company’s financial statements, including in a particular reporting period in which any such outcome becomes probable and estimable, could be materially adversely affected.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters into contractual arrangements under which the Company agrees to provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of the breach of such agreements, intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties, and other liabilities relating to or arising from the Company’s online ticketing platform or the Company’s acts or omissions. In these circumstances, payment may be conditional on the other party making a claim pursuant to the procedures specified in the particular contract. Further, the Company’s obligations under these agreements may be limited in terms of time and/or amount, and in some instances, the Company may have recourse against third parties for certain payments. In addition, the Company has indemnification agreements with its directors and executive officers that require the Company, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. The terms of such obligations vary.