Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. announced on Thursday, 6 August 2020, that it has
acquired Los Angeles based Omnia Media for approximately CAD $45 million in both cash and stock. The new agreement will bring Enthusiast Gaming’s total monthly reach to 300 million video games and esports fans as they expect to close the transaction during the third quarter of 2020.
The company has entered a binding share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Omnia Media from Blue Ant Media Solutions. The deal consists of a purchase price of CAD $11 million in cash, 18.25 million shares of Enthusiast Gaming, and a vendor-take-back note with a value of CAD $5.75 million.
The deal is said to be a bargain find for Enthusiast Gaming, which has previously taken up 12 gaming companies in the past 3 years. The organisation paid US $20 million to acquire The Sims Resource which is infamous for being one of the largest female gaming destinations around the world.
Omnia Media is a YouTube gaming network that shares premium, original content to its followers. Its platform is one of the most highly visited and subscribed-to channels for video game related content. The network produces over 30 weekly shows and represents more than 500 gaming influences.
The organisation reaches over 90 million unique viewers and boasts a significant U.S market inventory that consists of over 1,000 channels, 500 million subscribers and 3.2 billion monthly total video views. It saw an approximate revenue of $60 million for a one year period that started from August 2018.
In an interview with Forbes, Adrian Montgomery – CEO of Enthusiast gaming – mentioned that “gaming is the new social network”. The newly signed deal will breathe life into a new platform that will have more touch points with its audiences than any other gaming company which is active in North America.
Additionally, this arrangement positions Enthusiast Gaming as an industry leader towards advertising agencies and popular brands that are looking to target the Gen Z and millennial generations.
It has been reported that the company has been operating at a loss as records show a
long-term debt of CAD $20.6 million, a quarterly loss of CAD $5.6 million and a cumulative deficit of CAD $84.5 million. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has also caused the entire industry to take a huge hit revenue wise, due to cancelled spectator events this year. The effects are anticipated to negatively impact the industry’s expected earnings of 2021 as well.
Despite all these events, Enthusiast Gaming is positive in its spirits. In fact, the organisation has future acquisitions in the pipeline too. They attributed the reason to having seen a 30% increase in users across its platforms since the unexpected hit by the pandemic.
CEO of Blue Ant, Michael MacMilllan, commented “We are delighted to share that Omnia Media will be joining Enthusiast Gaming, a move that will solidify Omnia’s bright future with the scale and access Enthusiast provides as a publicly traded company. This transaction is an exciting, new way for Blue Ant to continue its investment in the esports market”.
As a result of the arrangement, Blue Ant is expected to own about 18% of Enthusiast
Gaming upon its completion. Blue Ant will also be entitled to nominate a director to the board of directors of Enthusiast Gaming. As per the conditions, Blue Ant’s ability to resell the other party’s shares will be restricted for one year too.
