Socios.com invests $100 million in FC Barcelona! In the grip of financial difficulties, FC Barcelona has just found new money. The Socios.com platform, which already markets its BAR fan token, has just bought 25% of the shares of Barca Studios, the Catalan club's digital creation center. A $100 million deal.
Socios.com injects 100 million into the coffers of FC Barcelona!
In order to finance its ambitious summer transfer window, the leaders of FC Barcelona have no choice but to sell extremely liquid assets. A few weeks ago, the Catalan club already sold 25% of the income from its TV Liga rights to an American investment fund.
Amount of the operation: 400 million euros and an assignment of the club's rights in the domestic league for 25 years. But unlike the contract signed with the Sixth Street fund, the sale to the Socios.com platform is final.
The Socios.com platform has therefore just entered the capital of the Catalan club through the front door. This investment of 100 million euros also represents 24.5% of the shares of Barça Studio. An entity that notably manages the audiovisual productions of the club. A sale that the president of the club commented on yesterday:
"We have reached an agreement for the sale of 25% of Barça Studios for 100 million euros. We have the authorization of the assembly […] to sell 49% of the shares and for the moment we have sold 25% to Socios.com."
Good to know: In August 2021, an audit of the club's finances revealed the abysmal debt of FC Barcelona: 1.35 billion dollars. Recently, the club took out a $595 million loan from US bank Goldman Sachs, in addition to a $435 million jersey partnership with music streaming company Spotify.
Zoom on the details of this takeover!
Barca Studios was launched in 2019 as the club's platform for creating and distributing video and audio content. The money made available by Socios.com must in particular be used to accelerate the web 3 initiatives of the club dear to Andres Iniesta. Socios.com also intends to innovate with the club in terms of blockchain, but also in the field of NFTs.
The entry into the capital of Socios.com notably foresees that Barca Studios' web 3 projects will be launched on the Chiliz Chain 2.0, a layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for the sports and entertainment industry.
This blockchain will allow other sports brands to be able to mint NFT tokens and fan tokens in order to use them for DeFi products or Play to Earn (P2E) games. The launch of this network is scheduled for the last quarter of 2022.
Socios.com is supported by football heavyweights!
While many sports fans are discovering Socios today, the platform is the undisputed leader in the fan token segment. It has partnerships with dozens of European clubs such as PSG, Manchester City, Juventus Turin, and AC Milan. Socios.com and its ecosystem are now looking to expand into other sports.
Crypto companies are now increasingly seeking to associate their image with those of world-renowned athletes. A fortiori when it comes to an ecosystem that revolves around sport.
If the partnership between Mbappé and Sorare had caused a lot of ink to flow, Messi's involvement in the Socios.com platform also brings a very good reputation to this project.
Last April, the Argentinian player became a Socios.com ambassador for a period of 3 years. The planned contract between the two parties provides for the Argentine player to promote the platform to his 400 million followers. For its part, Socios.com should launch a fan token bearing its image in addition to a payment of 20 million euros.
"The fans deserve recognition for their support. They deserve opportunities to influence the teams they love… I'm proud to join Socios.com's mission to create a more connected and rewarding future for fans everywhere. Lionel Messi."
What impact on the Chiliz ecosystem?
The announcement had a real positive impact on the price of the Chiliz (CHZ) token. Indeed, during the announcement yesterday afternoon, the asset saw its price explode by nearly 30% in just a few minutes. As shown in the graph below on which this “pump” is visible:
After crossing the $0.16 threshold, the token then went through a correction phase. As of this writing, one CHZ is trading against $0.1351. Or $0.015 above the price which was that of the Chiliz upstream of the pump.
As for the FC Barcelona fan token (BAR), we observe the same type of curve with a sharp rise followed by a correction phase. As with the Chiliz, the FC Barcelona fan token today remains higher than the price before the rise. One BAR token is currently trading at $5.65 from $5.05 before the bullish phase.
This course allows the project to appear as the fifth fan token in terms of marketcap. While the ranking is dominated by the Alpine fan token, all of the other projects in the top 20 are football fan tokens. A sport that remains prominent in the world of fan tokens today.
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