Majority Stake in ESL to be Acquired by MTG
Entertainment company Modern Times Group is set to acquire a majority stake in the world’s biggest eSports company Turtle Entertainment GmbH and it’s subsidiaries.
When we founded ESL 15 years ago, our goal was to bring esports to fans all around the world and establish it as a global sport. Today esports enjoys worldwide recognition and now, together with MTG, it is time to bring esports to the next level
said Ralf Reichert, CEO at ESL.
We are excited to partner with MTG, who share our enthusiasm for the sport and bring an entrepreneurial commitment to help make this dream come true. MTG’s extensive operational network in over 100 countries, and broadcast sports experience, will help us bring ESL and esports to many more places around the world, while allowing us to continue expanding on strong, strategic local partnerships. The ESL leadership team couldn’t be more excited to accelerate the entire esports industry forward together with MTG for the years to come.
CEO at MTG Jørgen Madsen, had this to say
At MTG, we love sports and we love sports fans. Our TV channels and platforms are home to the world’s leading sports brands, and are watched by typically young audiences. Esports is fast becoming one of the most watched and passionately followed global sports categories amongst younger audiences, and there are now almost as many gamers in the world as traditional sports fans, and esports is set to become bigger than ice hockey during 2015. However, the average revenue generated per esports enthusiast in 2014 was just over USD 2, compared to USD 56 for traditional sports fans, so this global phenomenon has tremendous potential. This investment is a key milestone in our digital development. We look forward to working with the talented Turtle team to grow the global esports community, and to make this exciting content even more broadly available online and on TV.
ESL was founded 15 years ago and is responsible in part for the sheer growth that eSports has seen in that time. MTG will acquire the majority of shares for €78 million but ESL’s management team will continue to oversee operations at the company after signing long term employment contracts as part of the deal.
Nick Gillham
Nick is an avid video game entusiast and has been since his mum first allowed him to play on the Atari 2600 she never touched. To this day he's had the pleasure of playing on a vast array of different gaming machines.
He's a recovering WoW-holic and when he's not playing games he's talking about games, reading about games, writing about games, watching videos about games, watching his son play games or chatting rubbish on Twitter.
A lover, not a fighter and an all round good guy (he would say that, he wrote this after all), he's happy to be here as part of GIAG.
