FuboTV climbs over 35% in 2 days after accelerating plans to launch sports-betting platform
- FuboTV shares were up over 7% Wednesday morning before paring some gains.
- The sports-streaming service announced plans to accelerate its sports-betting platform, fueling excitment among investors.
- FuboTV now boasts a market cap of over $2.5 billion.
- The company also announced plans to acquire sports betting and interactive gaming company Vigotry.
FuboTV shares are up over 35% in just two days after the company doubled down on its sports betting ambitions.
The sports-streaming platform announced Wednesday it is set to acquire a sports betting and interactive gaming company called Vigtory.
Vigotry is led by digital sports wagering entrepreneur Sam Rattner and former MGM Resorts president of interactive gaming Scott Butera, who was instrumental in launching BetMGM.
David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of fuboTV, said he believes the move toward sports gambling will be highly complementary to fuboTV's sports-streaming service. The CEO cited an estimate from Zion Market Research that predicts the online sports betting market will be worth over $155 billion by 2024.
Gandler also noted the company doesn't see wagering as an add-on product.
"FuboTV will be a media company and sportsbook all-in-one," Gandler said. "We not only expect sports wagering to become a new line of business and source of revenue, but we also expect that it will increase user engagement on fuboTV resulting in higher ad monetization, better subscriber retention, and reduced subscriber acquisition costs."
Gandler continued, "The proposed acquisition of Vigtory will give fuboTV the technology to build a consumer-driven sports betting product and launch it before the end of this year."
The Vigotry acquisition will help fuboTV deal with regulatory hurdles around sports gambling as well as improve data collection and analysis capabilities with the addition of Rattner and Butera's expertise.
This move comes on the back of fuboTV's December acquisition of sports betting tech company Balto Sports, which led the stock to skyrocket to highs of over $60 a share on December 22. Since then, shares of fuboTV have fallen significantly, but the accelerating development of a sportsbook has investors coming back around.
FuboTV also announced strong preliminary fourth-quarter revenue and subscriber numbers on January 5. The New York City-based company expects revenue to rise 77% to 84% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, while paid subscribers topped 500,000 for the first time, hitting 545,000.
FuboTV shares were up over 7% Wednesday before paring some gains. Still, the sports-streaming up and comer now boasts a market cap over $2.5 billion.