David Beckham’s e-sports IPO is speculative effort
02/10/2020 10:24
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
By Oliver Taslic
LONDON, Oct 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Guild Esports,
backed by the former soccer star, raised $26 mln in a London
listing. Its plan is to recruit pro gamers and tap into a $1 bln
market flush with fervent fans and eager advertisers. Making
money out of real-world sports teams is hard enough. This looks
even tougher.
Full view will be published shortly.
On Twitter https://twitter.com/olivertaslic
CONTEXT NEWS
- Guild Esports made its debut on the London Stock Exchange
on Oct. 2 after raising 20 million pounds ($25.7 million) in an
initial public offering.
- The company offered its shares at 8 pence each, valuing
the company at 41.2 million pounds. Former England soccer
captain David Beckham will hold 4.8% of the company after the
IPO.
- Guild, which posted a net loss of 1.2 million pounds in
the 10 months ended June 30, plans to use the proceeds from the
share placing to recruit new e-sports players and invest in its
brand.
- Guild is the first e-sports franchise to go public in
Britain. Astralis, a Danish e-sports organisation best known for
competing in “Counter-Strike” tournaments, listed in Copenhagen
in 2019.
- Other investors in Guild include Toro Consulting, Blue
Star Capital and Schroder Investment Management.
- Guild shares were trading at 8 pence each by 0830 GMT on
Oct. 2.
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Beckham's Guild Esports raises $26 million ahead of Friday debut
in London urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2GQ34U
Company prospectus https://www.guildesports.com/static/prospectus.pdf
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(Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Karen Kwok)
((oliver.taslic@thomsonreuters.com))