Len Blavatnik agrees $4.3bn recapitalisation of DAZN
Deal will take sports streaming group debt free as it explores new markets
Billionaire investor Len Blavatnik has agreed a $4.3bn recapitalisation of sports streaming platform DAZN that will make the lossmaking company debt free as it targets new revenue streams in betting and non-fungible tokens.
Access Industries, founded and chaired by Blavatnik and which is DAZN’s main shareholder, is converting preference shares and retiring shareholder loans in exchange for $4.3bn of new shares in the streaming group.
The recapitalisation means that DAZN is debt free as of the end of 2021, the company said on Friday. Access is also investing a further $250mn, split equally between new ordinary and preference shares.
Often labelled the “Netflix of sports”, DAZN has committed billions of dollars to acquiring the rights to broadcast top-level football matches in Italy, Spain and Germany and high-profile boxing bouts. But it is expected to report further losses in its delayed 2020 accounts, according to a person close to the company.
London-based DAZN was hit hard by the pandemic in 2020, when live sports fixtures were postponed, prompting Blavatnik to consider a range of financing options, including an outright sale, the FT reported at the time, and it made job cuts later that year.
Kevin Mayer, the former TikTok and Disney executive who chairs the streaming company, said Blavatnik’s increased backing was a “strong vote of confidence in DAZN’s strategy, progress and future growth”.
Blavatnik’s backing comes after the collapse of DAZN’s bid to acquire BT Sport, which broadcasts Uefa Champions League and English Premier League football in the UK, with UK telecoms group BT in exclusive talks to form a joint venture with US media Group Discovery instead.
While those rights would have increased DAZN’s profile in the UK and reshaped the country’s sports broadcasting landscape, Mayer has said a deal would have been “uneconomical”.
DAZN said its revenues and subscriber numbers were growing “strongly” as it continues to acquire the rights to screen more sport. The group reported a net loss of more than $1.3bn in 2019, as it sought to compete with incumbent broadcasters such as ESPN and Sky.
DAZN previously signalled its intent to explore new revenue streams with last year’s hire of Shay Segev, former chief executive of gambling group Entain. He has since been named sole-chief executive of DAZN.
The company said on Friday that it would move forward with new technology-driven opportunities this year, including recreational betting, gaming, ecommerce and so-called non-fungible tokens.