EPL side Everton Owner Farhad Moshiri is "looking to increase his shareholding in the club" to close to 60% by purchasing the shares of Deputy Chair Jon Woods. Moshiri paid £200M for a 49.9% stake in the club two years ago and is "now seeking to exercise an option" to buy the 8.9% owned by Woods, which would take his share to 58.9%. Moshiri’s proposed purchase would leave Chair Bill Kenwright (12.2%) as the "only other shareholder" with more than 5% (LONDON TIMES, 5/12).
William Hill Chair Roger Devlin issued a "last-ditch plea" to U.K. PM Theresa May as the gambling industry braces for a “catastrophic” clampdown on controversial betting machines. Devlin, who became the bookmaker’s chair last month, argued that the U.K. Treasury will lose £1B ($1.3B) and 20,000 jobs will be "put at risk" if maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals are cut from the £100 ($135) they are now to £2 ($2.71). A decision is expected this week (London TELEGRAPH, 5/12).
Former rugby union player Jon Wright, who was "forced to hang up his boots after a string of back injuries," raised £42M ($57M) to expand his low-cost gym chain. Wright, who played for Premiership Rugby side Harlequins until he was injured at the age of 22, founded Xercise4Less in '09 when he opened the first fitness club. Today, it has 49 gyms across the U.K. and 300,000 members. Wright, 46, plans to open 10 more by the end of the year (SUNDAY TIMES, 5/13).
Chinese livestreaming platform Huya raised $180M with its initial public offering. The IPO priced 15 million American depositary shares at $12. Huya is a "gaming-focused streaming platform similar to Twitch," owned by live streaming company YY. It has 86.7 million monthly active users, according to the IPO filing. Huya recently received an investment from Chinese tech firm Tencent. Following the deal, YY will own 44.5% of the company and Tencent will own 32% (THE ESPORTS OBSERVER, 5/11).
Newly-launched global esports organization team MAMMOTH is "making a big splash" in the Australian esports scene with the acquisition of Sin Gaming and a partnership with ROAM Esports. ROAM, which purchased Sin Gaming in late '16, will continue to provide managerial support to Sin Gaming, along with incoming recruits MAMMOTH has yet to announce (THE ESPORTS OBSERVER, 5/11).
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