X1 Esports and Entertainment (XONE.C) inks deal to acquire Tyrus Talent Services

X1 Esports and Entertainment (XONE.C), a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company focused on the owning and operating multiple verticals in the esports market from esports franchises to tournament hosting, announced today that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 100% interest in Tyrus LLC, an influencer management firm representing gamers, content creators and social media influencers.

Tyrus was formed in 2017 and provides talent management, agent representation, model management, platform management and video editing services to its clients.

The company assists content creators in managing YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and other social media channels as well as consultation on personal brand growth strategies and partnership management.

X1 CEO, Mark Elfenbein, commented on the pending transaction, “The Tyrus platform expertly bridges the gap between international brands and the gaming ecosystem. The addition of the company to our portfolio will help to establish X1 as an advertising sales organization with access to some of the most sought-after content creators in the video games category.”

According to the deal, X1 agrees to purchase Tyrus for a total consideration of up to approximately $350,000 USD. The payment will be split into $150,000 cash payments due within 60 days of closing, the issuance of 555,555 fully paid common shares in X1 at a deemed issue price of $0.45 per share, as well as a bonus payment of $100,000 if Tyrus reaches $1.75 million in revenues in its first year of operation. The bonus payment may be settled in cash or common shares in X1.

Common shares issued as a result of the deal with be subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the day of issuance. There will be a contractual resale restriction on said securities that will result in 25% of the common shares being released 12 months after closing and 25% being released at six-month intervals thereafter.

Amanda Solomon, CEO of Tyrus, summed up, “We’re excited to join the X1 family. Our main focus with Tyrus is to be an industry disrupter by offering white-glove services to our talent and diverse and inclusive roster of highly talented influencers who are enabling global brands to access and engage motivated Gen Z audiences. I’m supremely confident that joining X1 will take us to the next level and help us become an increasingly dominant player in this space.

X1 Esports currently has over thirty gamers on its roster after the RTO with RixGG. The annual aggregate salary commitment for the aforementioned players is expected to total approximately $320,000 CAD.

The company has fielded teams in Fortnite, the mobile version of Rocket League, League of Legends, Wild Rift and Valorant.

Since its launch RixGG has focused on providing grassroots competition and tournaments in VALORANT in competitive FPS games. During 2021, it has hosted 15 such tournaments as well as a weekly community tournament without a prize pool.

X1 realized $27,140 in revenues from September 16, 2020 to August 31, 2021 and noted a comprehensive loss of $2.01 million during that same period.

Currently the company trades at $0.36 per share for an approximate pre-acquisition market cap of $14.29 million.