UFC Owner to Buy OpenBet for a Revised Price of $800m
A substantially reduce value
Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. is acquiring the sports betting organization OpenBet in a deal worth $800m. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) owner had initially planned in September 2021 to get OpenBet for $1.2bn from Light & Wonder. 
The original $1.2bn was to be in the kind of $1bn cash plus newly issued shares. The value of the earlier deal was based on the average share cost for the duration of a specific period in September 2021, but stock prices have dropped substantially across the board considering that then. 
$750m money and about $50m worth of shares
The new $800m obtain price will be comprised of $750m money and about $50m worth of shares. Endeavor did not supply any exact causes or comment on the reduce acquire cost, even so, media stocks have been hit specifically tough by falling market place conditions. 
Expanding its presence in the sports betting space
Endeavor shares closed at $20.56 on Thursday, down from highs of a lot more than $35 toward the finish of 2021. The notion behind acquiring OpenBet is to enable Endeavor to get far more of a foothold in the sports betting space. It already has a presence in the sector by means of IMG Arena, which delivers live streaming data and video feeds for numerous thousands of sports events every single year to sportsbooks across the world. 
The original plan had been for the OpenBet deal to close in the second quarter of 2022, but the filing on Thursday stated that the transaction will most likely not be completed till the fall. Light & Wonder is set to get $700m in soon after-tax proceeds from the sale.
Light & Wonder realigning its enterprise
Light & Wonder, previously identified as Scientific Games, has had a diverse presence in the gambling space for a number of years. It not too long ago decided to rebrand and restructure its current company. 
In addition to agreeing to let go of its OpenBet division, Light & Wonder also sold its lottery division to Brookfield Company Partners in a deal worth $6.05bn. These transactions will support the business lessen its debt burden. Between the two deals, OpenBet will receive about $five.6bn in net after-tax proceeds. Light & Wonder’s debt burden is now $4bn, a significant drop from its earlier $eight.8bn figure.