Eccles thinks that the FanDuel founding team’s cumulative shares are worth more than $120MGETTY IMAGES
FanDuel co-Founder NIGEL ECCLES "didn’t make a dime" when the DFS site was acquired by Ireland-based Paddy Power Betfair in May, and last month filed a petition in Scottish civil court requesting that the company "be revalued," according to Kurt Wagner of RECODE. FanDuel at the time of the deal was valued at $465M, and Eccles, who "stepped down as CEO about six months before Paddy Power took a controlling stake" in the company, was not compensated "thanks to a 'waterfall' financial arrangement in which some of the company’s early investors were paid out first." FanDuel’s $465M valuation "wasn’t large enough that people who owned non-preferred shares -- mostly regular employees, including founders -- actually made any money." Eccles "thinks that’s unfair and that FanDuel was purposefully undervalued in the deal -- an extraordinary claim -- essentially cutting him and the company’s other employees out of the money." His petition was filed with FanDuel’s "other three co-founders, including his wife LESLEY." Eccles thinks that the founding team’s "cumulative shares" are worth more than $120M. Current FanDuel execs -- including Eccles’s replacement as CEO, MATT KING -- are "set to make millions on the merger." Eccles’s petition is the "latest saga in what has been years of drama for FanDuel" (RECODE.net, 8/14).
