With this latest addition, Better Collective’s esports portfolio will reach 100 million monthly visits with a further diversifying of revenue due to Futbin’s main income coming from adverts and subscription sales.
As a result, Better Collective has subsequently updated its financial targets for 2022. These new targets reflect the addition of around eight months of operational income from the acquired assets and follow the inclusion of expected additional business development costs. In total, operational earnings are now expected to reach approximately €85m. Other financial targets relating to organic growth and debt leverage remain unchanged at 15-25% for 2022 and <3.0x respectively.
The acquisition of Futbin and associated domains is an important milestone in Better Collective’s ambition of becoming the leading digital sports media group, adding to its already gained position within esports built on HLTV, the community space for CS:GO.
Reaching 50 million monthly visits on its website and 3 million daily active users on its proprietary app, Futbin is an esports brand that relates to the FIFA esoccer game. The main business model of the platforms is advert sales and more recently, the launch of the Futbin app has driven revenue growth with subscription services.
Across the last 12 months, the platform has generated €13m in revenues. But despite this acquisition, the team behind Futbin will continue to provide assistance to the business in ensuring development of the platform.
The purchase price of €105m will see €70m paid up front in cash whilst shares of Better Collective A/S will be paid at a market value of €5m. These shares are to be transferred from Better Collective’s holding of its own ownership. The remaining up to €30m is structured as a number of separate earn out payments to be paid over the next two years, subject to financial performance criteria.
Jesper Søgaard, Better Collective CEO and Co-Founder said: “Esports is maturing and attracting more and more people globally - also professional athletes. Acquiring Futbin and related assets is a clear testament to Better Collective’s ambition of creating a platform that reaches esports audiences across the world. And even though more than 100 million people visit our esports platforms every month, we will continue to look for additional growth. We are very impressed with the high growth profile and the technology behind Futbin and the other assets in the portfolio. We expect to see significant positive synergistic effects with Better Collective's business going forward”.
