Lachlan Murdoch’s News Corp linked with multi-million-dollar PointsBet bid
Media reports suggests consortium led by News Corp and Matt Tripp rebuffed in overtures for Australia-facing division
PointsBet’s Australia division was the subject of a A$220m (£125.7m) takeover bid from a consortium led by News Corporation, investment fund Tekkorp Capital and bookmaker Matt Tripp, media reports have claimed.
Unconfirmed reports in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper have suggested PointsBet’s board of directors rejected a “non-binding indicative offer” from the group within the last two weeks.
The offer, which the newspaper claims to be worth between $220m and $300m, is understood not to have been put to PointsBet’s shareholders.
The proposal is thought to be solely for the firm’s Australia division, which recently reported a 37% year-on-year turnover jump to A$579.4m in PointsBet’s Q3 2022 financial results.
PointsBet Australia generated a gross win of A$78.8m, corresponding to a gross win margin of 13.6%, with cash active clients and app downloads increasing by 47% and 11% year-on-year, respectively.
PointsBet’s US division, which operates across eight US states, is understood not to have been included in the proposal and if the bid were to have been realized, would have potentially seen the break-up of the business.
PointsBet has been long linked associated with a corporate takeover, mainly with US-based sportsbook operators, and earlier this year was the subject of takeover speculation linking it with perennial igaming and sports betting suitors Apollo Global Management.
Private equity firm Apollo, which bought global search giant Yahoo from Verizon for $5bn in May 2021, reportedly held talks with PointsBet, a deal which would have seen PointsBet merge with the Yahoo Sports brand.
However, these reports were never confirmed by either party.
PointsBet has not responded to a request for comment on these latest reports at the time of publication after being approached by EGR.
In April, a consortium consisting of News Corporation, Matt Davey’s Tekkorp Capital, former BetEasy CEO Matt Tripp and ex-Fox Bet CEO Robin Chhabra confirmed the launch of an Australia-facing sports betting joint venture.
Las Vegas-based Tekkorp Capital, which primarily serves as a venture capital business in the gaming sector, committed to making a “significant investment” in the new business, with Tripp and Chhabra joining its board of directors.
Chhabra, who served as CEO and then a special adviser to the Fox Bet business, is to utilize his existing relationships with News Corporation gained during his tenure with the sportsbook, operated on a joint basis with Flutter Entertainment.
Aussie-based bookies and global tote operator BetMakers, which has links with both Tripp and Tekkcorp through its CEO Matt Davey, will serve as the primary platform operator for the as yet unlaunched brand.
PointsBet’s share price dropped 5.7% in trading on the Australian Stock Exchange to a price of A$2.280 per share.