FuboTV has signed a binding agreement to acquire French OTT TV provider Molotov in a EUR 164.3 million cash and share transaction (of which at least 85 percent in shares). The company also announced the milestone of 1 million paid subscribers for its existing services.
The acquisition is estimated to close in Q1 2022, subject to customary closing conditions. Molotov's co-founder Jean-David Blanc will remain at the helm of the company as president. Molotov's around 100 employees will be maintained, and FuboTV plans to expand the product and engineering team based in Paris.
Molotov operates under a freemium model and counts nearly 4 million monthly active users in France, when including its ‘Mango’ ad-supported VoD service. The company announced its first international expansion in January, establishing a presence in several French-speaking African markets.
FuboTV operates in North America and brought its services to a first European market in 2018, with a launch in Spain. Molotov is expected to become the group’s hub of operations in Europe and support FuboTV's expansion into new markets around the world. FuboTV said it plans to leverage Molotov’s strategy and low-cost marketing funnel for international growth while implementing FuboTV’s marketing technology and sports content to accelerate Molotov subscriptions.
Subscribers pass 1 mln, revenues triple
The acquisition was announced alongside FuboTV's latest quarterly results, showing paid subscribers more than doubling in the past year. The number increased by 262,884 in Q3 alone to 944,605 subscribers at the end of September, and since then the platform has passed 1 million paid subscribers, the company said.
The company improved its full-year outlook, saying it expects to end 2021 with 1.06-1.07 million subscribers and annual revenues of USD 612-617 million. The at-the-market stock programme started in August will help fund the acquisition.
FuboTV also announced the acquisition of India-based Edisn.ai, a specialist in video recognition technologies. The company's computer vision technology is expected to support FuboTV's expansion into more interactive features, such as free-to-play games and sports betting.
