DraftKings CEO discusses merger plans
The executive said that the company is considering its options after sports betting became legal in the US.
US.- The legalisation of sports betting in the United States has woken up companies that focused on other gambling modalities. DFS company DraftKings is currently exploring possibilities ahead of a potential regulation in multiple states of the country.
Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, said that the company is currently considering an initial public offering, as well as a possible merger. “My preference has always been to IPO, but we’re open to different outcomes,” said Robbins to CNBC. While the executive didn’t specify if the company was approached by another operator, he said that there is a lot of activity going on and that “everybody is talking to everybody.”
Earlier this week, it was reported that Paddy Power Betfair and rival company FanDuel reached an agreement to merge their businesses in the United States, and in five years the UK company would own 100 per cent of the DFS operator. Robins said that the news would not change DraftKing’s plans: “We like to really focus on our own path and what we can control. It would be a mistake if we let it really affect our decision-making around timing for an IPO or any other sort of strategic transaction.”
“We’ve been working on this product for almost a year at this point and feel very excited about the position we’re in,” Robins said. “For us, it’s really just about finding the right partners now to bring it to market. People who help us on the licensing and distribution side.”
