Guild E-Sports is aiming to become the first e-sports company in the United Kingdom to go public on the London Stock Exchange, providing fans with an opportunity to invest in the company. The company, which David Beckham, a footballer and celebrity personality, has a significant stake in, intends to increase the amount of money invested in its gamers with the help of cash injections from shareholders.
Major Titles
Guild’s goal is to field teams in some of the biggest games in the world, such as Fortnite, FIFA, and CS:GO, and to help e-sports become as popular as traditional sports in the long run. This entails cultivating and developing international talent and securing sponsorship for major events.
In 2019, almost 450 million people watched e-sport event streams, making e-sports a highly lucrative industry.
The company intends to offer shares to larger investors first before opening up to the market in early October, according to a statement. David Beckham, one of the founding shareholders with a minority stake in the company, will play a significant role in encouraging and reassuring investors about the company’s future success.
Gareth Bale, a Real Madrid football player, established his own e-sports venture in early 2020, and Guild’s listing on the LSE is likely to pave the way for other e-sports firms to follow suit in the future.
Lockdown Boost
During the lockdown, e-sports became increasingly popular, in part due to the suspension of almost all publicly played sporting events. Competitions in e-sports tournaments frequently have large cash prizes, with some champions earning over one million pounds in winnings. They are typically live-streamed on websites like YouTube or Twitch or recorded for individual businesses, with teams from all over the world competing and hundreds of thousands of viewers tuning in.