- FuboTV and FaceBank Group enter definitive merger agreement
- Deal expected to close during the first quarter of 2020, financials were not revealed
- “FuboTV is well-positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a world-leading live TV streaming platform,” says CEO
US sports streamer FuboTV has merged with FaceBank Group for an undisclosed fee.
The combined company will be rebranded FuboTV Inc with the aim of creating “a leading digital entertainment company” offering cord-cutters a premium video experience.
FaceBank Group is a IP technology developer, focusing on the development, protection and activation of personal digital likeness assets of celebrities and consumers.
Upon completion of the merger, FuboTV will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of FaceBank, with the company expected to be headquartered in New York and led by FuboTV chief executive David Gandler.
Additional announcements regarding the combined company’s management structure and the board of directors will be announced in the coming weeks.
Gandler said: “The business combination of FaceBank Group and FuboTV accelerates our ability to build a category defining company and supports our goal to provide consumers with a technology-driven cable TV replacement service for the whole family.
“With our growing businesses in the US, and recent beta launches in Canada and Europe, FuboTV is well-positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a world-leading live TV streaming platform for premium sports, news and entertainment content.
“In the current Covid-19 environment, stay-at-home stocks make perfect sense - we plan to accelerate our timing to uplist to a major exchange as soon as practicable. We look forward to working with John and his team of creative visionaries.”
The boards of directors of both companies and the major stockholders of FuboTV have approved the transaction, which is anticipated to close during the first quarter of 2020, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
Since its founding in 2015 as a soccer streaming service, FuboTV has evolved into a live TV streaming platform with more top Nielsen-ranked sports, news and entertainment channels for cord-cutters than any other live platform.
The merger itself is aimed to create a content delivery platform for traditional and future-form IP.
FuboTV plans to leverage FaceBank’s IP sharing relationships with leading celebrities and other digital technologies to enhance its sports and entertainment offerings.
The companies said in a statement the aim of the merger will aptly position FuboTV to continue its global expansion with FaceBank’s Nexway AG, a global ecommerce and payment platform with a business presence in 180 countries, accepting payments in roughly 140 currencies.
FuboTV was the first virtual MVPD to commit to global expansion and in 2018 entered Europe with its launch in Spain.
In a joint statement FaceBank founders John Textor and Alex Bafer said: “As a tech-driven IP company, FaceBank was looking to find the perfect delivery platform for its celebrity and consumer driven content, with a dynamic user interface that could support the global consumers’ rapidly evolving practices of content consumption.
“David and his team have a clear vision of the future and FuboTV’s technology is second to none among the disruptor class of content delivery – a perfect match for FaceBank Group.”
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