A Boston Globe report on Saturday suggests that Daily Fantasy Sports juggernaut DraftKings has only raised $70 million in recent months, describing this as “a sharp drop from the company’s previous investment rounds as it fights regulatory battles across the country”.
Indeed, the Boston-based firm raised some $500 million in fresh capital heading into the 2015 NFL season.
The new investment round resulted in 21st Century Fox Inc. cutting the value of its $160 million investment in DraftKings by about 60 percent,
From the Boston Globe:
Fox reported to federal regulators on Monday that it reduced the value of its roughly 11 percent stake in DraftKings by $95 million “based on information concerning DraftKings’ current valuation in a recent financing transaction,” but declined to provide more detail.
It was not clear if Fox was among the investors in the new $70 million round. Fox and DraftKings declined to comment Friday.
iSpot.tv, a company that tracks commercial airings, claims that DraftKings ran more TV commercials than any other advertiser in American during the late August to mid-September period.
Those commercials may have helped draw the ire of state law enforcement agencies across the US, including New York’s Attorney General’s Office, which has filed suit against both DraftKings and FanDuel claiming they are engaging in illegal online gambling.
– Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com