PointsBet’s board of directors turned down a takeover offer exceeding AU$220 million that was made in partnership between News Corporation and Matthew Tripp.
According to industry sources familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the negotiations were confidential, about a fortnight ago PointsBet’s board, which is currently headed by Brett Paton, a former UBS banker, rejected a non-binding indicative acquisition offer from a consortium led by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Australia. The bid, which they said was worth between AU$220 million and AU$300 million, was not presented to the Australian sports betting operator’s shareholders.
Mr Murdoch and his son Lachlan currently control a multi-billion dollar global media empire that includes a number of global and local news hubs, such as The Australian, the Foxtel pay-TV enterprise in Australia, as well as the Fox News Channel in the US. For some time now, the duo has been trying to get a presence in the global gambling and betting industry as part of Murdoch’s efforts to offset the revenue decline that his media business has been experiencing lately.
For the time being, News Corp Australia has a small presence in the gambling sector through its ownership of online racing platforms Racenet and Punters.com.au. Earlier in 2022, the company reached an agreement on a partnership with Tripp, who previously managed to grow Sportsbet into the second-biggest bookmaker in Australia and in 2014 created BetEasy.
Successful Takeover Offer Would Have Provided New Business Perspective for News Corp
News Corp has already appointed Andrew Menz, the former boss of BetEasy, to the position of chief executive officer. The company is expected to roll out an online sports betting business by the end of 2022.
Although the rejected offer by PointsBet has no negative effect on the launch of the new company or its sports betting business, it would have given a new business perspective and scale to News Corp, which is not expected to feature a particularly big customer base when it starts operation. Its betting venue’s technology platforms would be managed by BetMakers.
As The Sydney Morning Herald reported, PointsBet refused to make any comment on the proposed deal. Tripp was not available for comment, either.
The Australian unit of the betting company, which is currently mostly focused on the US sports betting market, is estimated at more than AU$200 million. According to market analysts, the listed group’s market capitalisation is worth AU$604 million. PointsBet already operates in Canada and 10 US states, and has a strong balance sheet, which is set to be partly used to fund its plans for global growth.
As far as its Australian division is concerned, the company reports that the local unit’s turnover rose to AU$579.4 million in the 3 months ending in March 2022. In the 2021 fiscal year, its betting turnover rose by 140%, reaching AU$2 billion, following significant marketing efforts of the operator. In August 2021, PointsBet revealed that it would pursue a 10% share of the local online gambling market by 2025.
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Olivia Cole
