Len Blavatnik’s DAZN is said to be exploring its options to secure its financial future.
Dubbed “The Netflix of Sport”, DAZN has been a big spender in its acquisition of European football and boxing. However, the global Covid-19 pandemic has meant subscribers have paused their payments, telling the streaming service they are disappointed at the lack of live action.
The Financial Times reports DAZN’s preferred option to be a sale of an equity stake in the company, but an outright sale hasn’t been ruled out.
Among those to be approached is John Malone’s Liberty Global, but so far there has been little interest in the deal.
Blavatnik’s Access Industries acquired UK-based Perform Group in 2014, which included a number of businesses such as sports betting services and the Opta statistics company.
In 2018. Japanese advertising company Dentsu became a 10% shareholder in the company before rebranding as DAZN.
The Perform division itself merged with the US sports group STATS a year later, following a deal with Vista Equity Partners.
