Last week we discussed the ongoing SPAC boom, highlighting WeWork and Donald Trump's new media and tech company as two of the most interesting deals this year.
That story might have been a bit premature, as Faze Clan, a competitive esports organization, announced a merger with a SPAC that is set to value the group at $1bn.
Media biz? Sports team? Gaming company?
Yes to all of the above.
It's hard to sum up exactly what Faze Clan is. If gaming isn't your thing it's even harder to wrap your head around, but Faze is essentially a media company. People watch their members play video games, and they monetize those eyeballs with ads, sponsorships, merchandise, exclusive content and more. And they have a lot of eyeballs.
According to Faze, its members have more than 330 million followers on social media, which is a bigger combined following than a number of huge sports franchises, including the LA Lakers.
Verifying that claim for all of the Faze members is not easy, but even just looking at the organization's main social accounts (not including its members), Faze stacks up pretty well against major US sports teams, with its 25.7m followers across Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. That's close to basketball powerhouses like the LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors and way ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees.
Of course having a social media following doesn't equal having a great business. Faze is very much at the early stage of its monetization, suggesting that the company's rosy projections are doing a lot of heavy lifting in achieving that $1bn valuation.
