DAZN: "I can see us tapping public or private capital markets over the next few years" (J. Rushton)

"If circumstances were right, I can see us tapping the public capital markets or the private capital markets over the next few years," said James Rushton, co-CEO of the British OTT platform DAZN to the news agency Reuters, on 08/04/2021. Bloomberg (financial, software, data, and media company) had previously reported in August 2020 that DAZN might go public in order to raise $1bn (€840m). An IPO (Initial Public Offering) would make DAZN the first global sports streaming company to be listed.

An IPO is not however a necessity, explained James Rushton, who also mentioned a possibility that the American multinational company Access Industries, DAZN's parent company, could be backed by another player to develop the platform. Access Industries is owned by Russian businessman Leonard Blavatnik, whose personal fortune was estimated to be worth $32.9bn (€27.6bn) by Forbes magazine in April 2021.

DAZN (launched in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in August 2016 and now present in 200 countries), posted a turnover of $878m (€715m) and a net loss of $1.4bn (€1.14bn) in 2019 (according to…