The founders of Fanduel will receive nothing from the sale of the company to Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair, according to a US fantasy sports betting website.
“The biggest losers in the acquisition of daily fantasy sports company FanDuel by Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair appear to be the company’s founders and common shareholders, who are getting zero dollars from the transaction,” it said.
“Meanwhile, ‘C-Suite’ executives for FanDuel stand to do very well,” added Legal Sports Report. The site bases its assertion on documents that it says detail the two companies’ combined business.
“The site’s founders, including former CEO Nigel Eccles and most employees appear as if they will get nothing from the agreement. That list would also appear to include co-founders Lesley Eccles, Tom Griffiths, Rob Jones and Chris Stafford,” it said.
Legal Sports Report said the summary of the transaction is “where common shareholders learned they were out of luck”, quoting it thus:
The aggregate value of the consideration to be paid by the Company in the Offer is approximately $465 million. As this consideration is not sufficient to satisfy the aggregate preference payable on the A Preference Shares, no part of the consideration payable in the Offer will be payable on FanDuel’s ordinary shares or options to purchase FanDuel’s ordinary shares.
Majority shareholders used their so-called “drag along right” to force minority shareholders to accept the deal, said the site. The dragging shareholders here were early-stage investors KKR and Shamrock Capital, who led two of FanDuel’s biggest rounds of investment.
Another document showed that current FanDuel executives could make tens of millions of dollars.
They include current chief executive Matt King, chief technical officer Robin Spira, chief legal officer Christian Genetski, chief financial officer Andy Giancamilli, EVP of corporate strategy David VanEgmond and chief marketing officer Mike Raffensperger. The site quoted the offer document:
For purposes of the Golden Parachute Provisions, the estimated aggregate amount of Payments the Disqualified Individuals could receive in connection with the Transaction is $6,186,814 for Mr. Genetski, $3,517,833 for Mr. Spira, $4,957,685 for Mr. Giancamilli, $11,342,688 for Mr. King, $2,601,338 for Mr. VanEgmond, and $1,693,375 for Mr. Raffensperger.
King also worked at FanDuel investor KKR. King appears to be in line to take over all US operations for PPB as it moves toward sports betting.
Legal Sports Report has a full copy of the offer to shareholders here.