What are you talking about.
DAZN paid $3.4b for Foxtel, way, way over market expectations which were about $1.5b, of the $3.4b about $800m went to clear debts that Foxtel owed its former parents Fox and Telstra. Valuation $2.5b.
Fox and Telstra kept a 9% stake in the new entity, assuming that`s based on $2.5b ($3.4m-$800m) that`s $225m, leaving an actual cash outlay by DAZN of $2.275b for the purchase of Foxtel.
DAZN said at the time they bought Foxtel because they saw it as a cutting-edge pay tv and streaming service honed through operating in one of the most competitive sports markets in the world, i.e. Oz, that they could expand and take to the world in line with Blavatnik`s vision for DAZN.
Before he can realise that ambition he is going to have it paying its way in Oz, "pulling the plug" on NRL won`t be part of that.
You are repeating what I said. The
cash element is just the shareholder debt, everything else other debts and paper in DAZN itself. The actual outlay was only the paper.
These were shares in a business with accumulated losses of £10 billion and running close to £1 billion in annual losses. Like the Saudis putting £1 billion in for 10%, the shares provided roughly valued DAZN at £10 billion. To be clear, this is not a public market valuation. All the investors would value it themselves and so they did here.
Given their new shareholders, it might not be a surprise that they have actually now started to focus on costs.
They made grand statements on an acquisition, amazing stuff. They also made grand statements when they acquired French football rights.
August 2024
View the latest breaking news and updates from the world of boxing. Find out what we've been up to, stay up to date with DAZN.
dazngroup.com
By February 2025, DAZN withheld €35 million for rights payment and were in court with Ligue 1.
Ligue 1 is in a challenging financial position after the French soccer league’s media rights deal with DAZN fell apart this week.
frontofficesports.com
You are again repeating what I said on DAZN cutting the NRL. I have my doubts that they could materially lift the rights amounts they pay, but that doesn’t mean cut.
What I said was that the scenario I see of that happening is if bidding got crazy, which would be
good for the NRL.