EEG announces leadership changes and new costs reductions

Restructure
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Esports betting and entertainment company Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) has announced that its CEO and Chairman Grant Johnson has departed from the organisation.

An interim/acting CEO will be appointed in the following days after approval by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. In the meanwhile, the company is evaluating candidates to take on the role.

Esports Entertainment Group also named Jan Jones Blackhurst, former Mayor of Las Vegas and currently also a Caesars Entertainment Corporation Board Member, as its Chair of the Board of Directors.

“The company is looking forward to bringing in new leadership to work with Board to realize the full potential of our acquired esports businesses,” said Blackhurst.

Along with the announcement, EEG also provided updates on its operations, including discussions with its debt holder to restructure its payment obligations. This follows a recorded GAAP loss of $34.5m (~£25.38m) for 2021. The company’s stocks also fell over 75% in the last six months and more than 95% in the last 12 months.

Such results led the company to reduce costs in the last months, which also led to the shutdown of the betting website Vie.gg. New cuts include the sale of EEG’s online casino business in Spain and the shutdown of Argyll iGaming in the United Kingdom and Ireland, both to be executed in December.

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With this, the company initiates a process of evaluation of its iGaming business strategy, motivated by increasing competition and regulations. According to the announcement, one of the tasks of the new CEO will be to determine the next steps of EEG in this field.

EEG also revealed to have received a non-binding letter of intent to merge with an undisclosed third party. According to the company, the result of the merger would ‘focus on growing esports revenues’ and ‘the proposal is currently under consideration’.

Victor Frascarelli, Journalist
Victor Frascarelli is a Brazilian esports business journalist focused on the LATAM market. Previously at The Esports Observer for two years, Victor enjoys all things competitive, from League of Legends to football to chess to CS:GO.