Fanatics has nearly tripled in value over the last year, and now — after a C-suite reshuffle — it’s looking into new lines of business.

The sports merchandise company raised $325 million from Major League Baseball, SoftBank, Roc Nation, Jay-Z, Silver Lake, and others at an $18 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Fanatics, founded in 1995, has seen its valuation soar over the past year.

• In March, it raised $320 million at a $12.8 billion valuation.
• In August 2020, it raised $350 million at a $6.2 billion valuation.
• Softbank invested $1 billion in Fanatics in 2017 at a $4.5 billion valuation. The NFL and MLB joined the round with around $95 million and $50 million, respectively.
• Fanatics has raised about $2.2 billion total.

Fanatics partners with all the major U.S. sports leagues on e-commerce and owns the NFT company Candy Digital.

Now it has its sights set on sports betting, gaming, ticketing, and media. In June, it hired former FanDuel CEO Matt King to run its betting operations. Chairman Michael Rubin is stepping into the CEO role, while current CEO Doug Mack will continue to oversee the company’s e-commerce division.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers president Tucker Kain is joining as chief strategy and growth officer, and Glenn Schiffman, who recently left as CFO of investment company IAC, will take the same role at Fanatics.

The Tokyo Olympics was a win for the U.S., which brought home the most gold medals and overall hardware during the 17-day competition. NBC, however, was not on the podium.

The network saw its lowest ratings ever for the Summer Games since acquiring broadcasting rights in 1988, bringing in an average of 15.5 million prime-time viewers — a 42% decrease from the 26.7 million viewers during the 2016 Rio Games, and an even bigger fall from the 31.1 million who watched the 2012 London Games.

NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua attributes the drop in viewership to the one-year delay and the pandemic but says NBC was prepared for the impact COVID-19 might have on the Games. The company was still able to stream nearly 6 billion minutes of programming across viewers.

NBCUniversal brought in $1.2 billion in ad revenue for the games, but the company had to mend relationships with advertisers when viewership numbers began to drop.

• The network reportedly held discussions with advertisers to offer additional commercial time, discounts on Super Bowl ads, or ad time during the Beijing Winter Games — NBC has broadcasting rights for both.
• Bevacqua says more than 99% of advertisers have been able to renegotiate, with one or two still in discussions.

After extending its broadcasting rights for $7.75 billion in 2014, NBC has rights for the Olympics through 2032.

Flutter Entertainment, owner of FanDuel, expects its U.S. business to turn a profit for the first time in 2023, according to the company’s latest earnings report on Tuesday.

The company generated $902.89 million in revenue during the first six months of FY2021, up 159% year-over-year. 

Though Flutter is bringing in a large amount of cash, expansion is costly.

• Its FanDuel brand has invested more than $1 billion in marketing since 2018. 
• The company expects sales from existing customers to cover “spending huge amounts of money on acquiring customers,” per Flutter CEO Peter Jackson.

Flutter, whose properties also include FOX Bet and PokerStars, among others, is listed on the London Stock Exchange but still leads the pack in the $1.9 billion U.S. online gambling market.

The operator posted $500 million in U.S. revenue during Q2 2021, good enough for a 45% market share.

Flutter’s growth is driven by the steady progression of legalized online betting in the States. Full-year 2021 revenue is expected to land between $1.8 billion and $2 billion.

Currently operating in 10 states, the company plans to expand to 19 states over the next 18 months.