DAZN Lost Billions in 2021, Postpones IPO Plans

DAZN, a leading sports streaming platform, announced that its initial public offering may become a reality within three years. This news comes in the wake of a report which outlined the company’s losses in 2021.

DAZN is a sports streaming company that hopes to become the next powerhouse in media and experience similar success to juggernauts like Amazon and Netflix. However, the company’s efforts have so far failed to achieve the desired successes, amounting to huge losses.

Over the past few years since its creation in 2016, DAZN has lost more than $6 billion. The company’s recent results show that it lost $1.35 billion in 2021, accompanied by a $900 million interest on a loan to the company’s shareholder. This brought the total money the company parted ways with in 2021 to $2.3 billion.

This not only adds to the company’s woes but also forces it to postpone its initial public offering plans. The IPO is something DAZN has been envisioning for a while. Unfortunately, the various setbacks have prevented the company from proceeding with these plans.

The Company Hopes to One Day Go Public

Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN, spoke with Bloomberg on the matter, saying that the global macroeconomic situation has prevented the company from moving on with its plans.

In addition, various factors and strategic investments caused the company to lose billions in 2021. Securing broadcasting rights for certain sports leagues further hurt the company’s finances. Rights for soccer leagues in Italy and Germany were some of the company’s biggest expenses. However, the company hopes that these investments will pay off.

According to Segev, DAZN will likely resume the IPO plans in the next two or three years. He said that his team is open to strategic investors and does not have any preferences. He concluded that DAZN’s goal is to become a successful public company like Netflix or Amazon.

DAZN Is Growing in Popularity In Spite of the Setbacks

Segev might just be able to make his vision a reality as DAZN has exploded in popularity in recent years. While still not enough to offset the company’s losses, DAZN’s users have swelled in number. The platform’s services are now available in 225 countries, allowing it to access a variety of key markets.

DAZN now sits as the biggest sports broadcasting company in Europe and is continuously adding more content to its platform, despite the hefty broadcasting rights prices. This demonstrates the company’s ambition to attract customers through varied and high-quality sports content.

While DAZN launched a sports betting subsidiary company called DAZN Bet in 2022, its primary goal is to be an independent streaming service that doesn’t rely on betting proceeds. Speaking of DAZN Bet, the sportsbook launched in Spain a few months ago, further expanding the company’s European footprint.