Soccer
  • Home
  • Boxing
  • DAZN: Streaming Service Report Eye Watering Losses Of $.Bn For

DAZN: Streaming service report eye-watering losses of $1.3bn for 2020

DAZN have reported eye-watering losses of $1.3billion for 2020, identical to the previous 12 months in 2019.

DAZN have filed their accounts for 2020 and recorded total losses of $1.3billion - identical to the previous 12 months.

The OTT streaming service were in talks to buy out BT Sport which would have seen them have UK rights for the Premier League and Champions League, only for US media group Discovery to close a deal instead.

It was a major blow for DAZN who currently only have rights to Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy and the women's UEFA Champions League.
DAZN are major players in other parts of Europe, including Germany and Italy but have failed to make an impact in America despite putting a huge amount of money into boxing, baseball and MMA.

It has contributed towards their big losses, which included staging Canelo Alvarez's Cinco de Mayo clash against Billy Joe Saunders.

Journalist Chris Williamson reported the latest DAZN figures on social media.

He said: "DAZN finally filed their (late) accounts to end of 2020. They make for eye-opening reading. Losses totalled $1.3bn, more or less the same as the previous year. Net liabilities (ie negative net assets) totalled over $1bn.
"Prior to the recent recapitalisation, Access had lent a further $1.05bn to the company during the year and $1.1bn AFTER the year end to fund operating activities. The loans attracted interest of THIRTY percent!
"Matchroom Boxing USA (DAZN 40% owner) confirmed as loss making for the year to end 2020.
"Customer numbers not reported, which seems bizarre for a company that generates revenue from customer relationships. Interestingly they report that U.K. revenue comprised 5% of the total, so c$43m. Assuming av. revenue of about $120 per year suggests 350k U.K. customers.
"DAZN have future commitments to rights holders of $5bn. They need to start generating cash and profits and quickly. On the evidence of these numbers, the business is miles away from self-sufficiency."

Blavatnik to pump more money into DAZN

Earlier this week it was revealed that billionaire investor Len Blavatnik will pump $4.3billion into DAZN and wipe off the company debts as of the end of 2021.
It is now aiming to target a new revenue stream in betting and non-fungible tokens and Access Industries - founded and chaired by Blavatnik - is converting preference shares and retiring shareholder loans for $4.3billion of new shares into the streaming group.
Access are also investing another $250million and will be split equally between new ordinary and preference shares. Despite taking huge hits in America, it has not stopped DAZN, alongside Matchroom Boxing, from putting in an offer to stage Canelo Alvarez's two next fights.

Should the Mexican superstar accept the deal, then it will see him potentially face Dmitry Bivol and arch-rival Gennadiy Golovkin.

Canelo and Golovkin have fought twice before in 2017 and 2018 with both ending in controversial circumstances. The first encounter ended in a split draw while the second was a majority victory for Canelo.

"We're going to go to him and say, "here are our three or four options." PBC is going to say, "here are our three or four options," and somebody else is probably going to put three or four options out there,' Hearn told IFL TV.
"He's going to look at the deal and decide which one he wants to do. I think the GGG fight is going to be such a big fight, and there's going to be an announcement about him very soon. He's got a big unification fight coming up.
"The GGG versus Canelo fight is a massive fight and probably the biggest money fight out there for Canelo.
"But he's got enough money. It's not just about who pays the most money, and it's got to be a fight that motivates him," he added.

Read more: Tyson Fury taunts rival ahead WBC title defence

    More Articles