Billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik’s latest investment in DAZN could tilt the balance in Foxtel’s looming showdown with Channel 9 for NRL supremacy.
Billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik has poured another £587 million into his sports streaming giant DAZN, bringing his total investment to more than £7 billion in less than ten years — a move that could have major implications for Australian sports broadcasting.
The cash boost lands as DAZN-owned Foxtel Group — operator of Kayo Sports, BINGE and Foxtel — prepares to mount a major bid to retain NRL broadcast rights in Australia, a deal considered vital to the continued growth of Kayo’s sports streaming service.
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Despite strong efforts by NRL boss Peter V’Landys to attract more international streaming competitors for the next NRL television rights deal, TV Blackbox understands the final negotiations are likely to come down to two major players — Foxtel and Kayo Sports versus Channel 9 and its streaming arm Stan Sport.
The Foxtel Group is also expected to confirm in the coming weeks that it has secured an extension of its existing Formula One broadcast rights deal. The network had faced stiff competition from Stan Sport to retain coverage of the globally popular motorsport series.
According to company filings lodged at Companies House and reported by the Financial Times, DAZN’s annual losses narrowed to £936 million last year, down from £1.4 billion the previous year. The group’s 2024 revenue climbed by £323 million to reach £3.2 billion, supported by the addition of new sporting events to its global lineup.
DAZN chief executive Shay Segev told the Financial Times the company expected to turn a profit for the first time next year and had begun preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO).
“We’re aiming for at least £5bn in revenues for this year,” Segev said.
“The margins are improving, our key markets are already profitable in 2025 and we are comfortable saying that in 2026 the group will be profitable as well.”
The latest accounts show that DAZN’s majority shareholder, Blavatnik’s Access Industries, provided £587 million in additional financial support during 2024 — a sharp rise from £240 million in 2023. However, Segev said no further funding had been required this year, marking what could be the platform’s first period of financial independence from its parent.
“This business has a very big potential to generate a lot of free cash.
Happily, we have now reached the point. Our shareholders believe in this business. They put a lot of investment in this business,” he said.
The filings also confirmed a £1 billion capital injection from Surj, a sports investment firm owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, to support DAZN’s working capital and new investment opportunities.
“It’s a global platform, and to accelerate [growth] we probably need to have more capital,” Segev said, adding that additional funding could come from “public markets or private investors.”
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Since the end of the reported financial year, DAZN has expanded both its content offering and corporate footprint. In April, the group took control of Australian pay-TV company Foxtel in a £2.2 billion deal, part-paid in shares to former owners News Corp and Telstra, which now hold 6 per cent and 3 per cent stakes respectively.
The following month, DAZN struck a £1 billion deal with FIFA to secure exclusive rights to the FIFA Club World Cup in the US — making the event free to stream worldwide to boost visibility in new markets.
Segev described DAZN’s ambition to become the “Spotify of sport”, combining live broadcasts with fan engagement tools, statistics and betting features, and said the group aimed to reach 1 billion active users globally.
“We always knew that this is a journey to build a global digital platform [and] we’re starting to see the result of all the investment that we are putting in,” Segev said.
“We are now at the tipping point. I would say that we are now the biggest football platform in the world.”
Source: Financial Times
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