British esports organization
General well-being: The organization, which has David Beckham as an ambassador and minority owner, gave a brief update on its general trajectory.
- It claims to have been trading “in line with management expectations” on exchanges such as the LSE and the OTCQB
- Guild has “several potentially significant sponsorships” that are at “advanced stages of negotiations,” something it’s proclaimed for months.
- Several leadership changes have been made to “support the next phase of the company’s growth” and strengthen its expertise in “technology and capital marketise.”
YouTube: Guild Esports Guild is paying $20M over five years for Beckham’s involvement.
The changes: While claiming things are going as planned, the organization has made several alterations to its board.
- Andrew Drake, Chris Sullivan, and Simon Walters will all step down as Non-Executive Directors at Guild Esports in its annual general meeting (AGM) on March 31.
- The board is adding Brian Stockbridge and Mike Edwards, who have experience in corporate finance (including investments, IPOs, and capital raisings) and founding and investing in companies, respectively, as Non-Executive Directors.
- Guild’s Executive Finance Director, James Savage, has resigned from his role for “personal reasons” and an interim Chief Financial Officer is set to start with immediate effect. A permanent holder of the CFO position is already being scouted.
The last financial year: Guild revealed its first-ever full-year financial performance in January 2022.
- Annual revenue for the org reached $2.6M (£1.9M).
- A pre-tax loss of $11.8M (£8.8M), up from $3.6M (£2.7M) in the year prior.
- The org states “fundamental” investments in operational infrastructure, esports teams, Guild Academy, and merchandising are reflected in the loss.
This as such is nothing new and many older Esports organizations are telling the same story year after year. The sports is still young and in order to stay at top, you need to invest. A good another example is Danish organization Astralis. They have done a lot, and are progressing in multitude of games. They even opened their own building and are closing to make profit – not 2021, but for 2022 they aer aiming to make more revenue and even a small profits