Allied Esports to restructure business; rebrands to Allied Gaming & Entertainment

Allied Esports Entertainment announced Thursday the conclusion of a strategic review process, overseen by its board of directors and assisted by financial advisor Benchmark Company. Additionally, the company is rebranding to Allied Gaming & Entertainment.

The strategic review looked at the Allied business as a whole to establish how it could best achieve further growth, including a potential business combination transaction. The company has now determined that its shareholders’ interests will be best served by restructuring its existing esports business operations and expanding its focus to include a broader array of entertainment and gaming products and services in lieu of seeking a single business combination transaction.

Yinghua Chen, Allied Gaming & Entertainment CEO, said: "After a thorough review of potential M&A opportunities across a wide range of industries, we have decided our stockholders are best served by not pursuing a single significant transaction at this time. Given our deep roots and established position in esports and gaming, I am confident we can bring our operational acumen, unique assets, and valuable resources to restructure our existing esports business and also offer a wider range of popular entertainment products and services to the broader gaming community."

"By building beyond esports, our new strategy will provide the next level of experiential entertainment to the world of gamers. Looking ahead, we expect to achieve strong growth through both organic expansion and reasonably sized tuck-in acquisitions to help us capitalize on this burgeoning market opportunity," the CEO further commented.

In alignment with the announcement, the company changed its corporate name and rebranded to "Allied Gaming & Entertainment Inc." Its common stock continues to be publicly traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the new ticker symbol "AGAE."

Robert Proctor

In addition, the group appointed Robert Proctor as the new CEO of Allied Esports International, a 100% owned subsidiary of the company, to lead the restructuring of its esports business.

Proctor is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with three decades of experience spanning a variety of industries, the firm noted. He has held C-level positions for public and private companies in entertainment, technology, and media, including as CEO of Audioboom Group, an international digital media platform, where he transformed the start-up into a fully listed publicly traded company.

About the appointment, Chen commented: "I am delighted to announce Rob’s appointment to Chief Executive Officer of Allied Esports International. Rob is a veteran business leader and entrepreneur in the broadcasting, media, and entertainment industries and possesses a unique combination of experience in content creation, global media sales, brand building, operation, and strategic planning knowledge."

"We believe he is a great fit for fulfilling the new direction of our esports business. I look forward to working closely with him on improving the company’s cash flow and financial flexibility," she concluded.

Proctor will oversee restructuring plans that include leveraging the physical assets of the business, including HyperX Arena Las Vegas and the Allied Esports Trucks, to create and deliver new experiences across multiple content genres.

The initiative will also seek to seize the scalability of virtual audiences to establish Allied "as the world’s leading live and virtual live experience content creator and broadcaster," with an emphasis on direct audience monetization.

Additional restructuring plans include strengthening the Allied brand through experiential, lifestyle, and content offerings; creating proprietary brand-forward content; and growing and retaining audiences and users through the development of a new consumer platform.

Meanwhile, Allied will also seek to grow organically through the development of additional businesses that complement wider operations while targeting the broader global gaming market. 

The company said it is exploring potential opportunities to expand its location-based-entertainment expertise with a focus on gaming lifestyle and experiential entertainment, as well as growing its digital footprint and monetization capabilities through mobile gaming. 

The restructuring comes following the resignation of former CEO Jud Hannigan in October. Hannigan confirmed the news in a post on his LinkedIn page, having led the business since February 2017. He was previously senior vice president of the group.