Catena Media bolsters US position with $40m Lineups purchase

Catena Media has acquired US sports betting affiliate Lineups for $39.6m. The purchase price will be paid in cash over three instalments during a two-year period, while an additional cash payment of $500,000 will be paid if New York legalises sports betting within three years of the transaction date. The first $25m payment will be triggered on closing, while $9.6m will be payable one year later before the final payment of $5m on the second anniversary of completion. Lineups.com is an online sports affiliation company that specialises in analytics, betting predictions, tools and news. The site supports US sports bettors by providing confirmed and projected starting line-ups and squads for NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams and for fantasy sports across most regulated US states, including the newly launched territories of Michigan and Virginia.

Will Javonte Williams fit best with the Pittsburgh Steelers? @MattAmatoSF gives us his in-depth scouting report on the RB out of North Carolina. https://t.co/zWktMwZfe1 #NFL #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/9lwI7pG9sE

— Lineups (@lineups) April 20, 2021

Lineups recorded sales of approximately $7.5m over the last 12 months to 30 April 2021. Sales for the first quarter of 2021 amounted to around 10% of total Catena Media revenue during the period. Catena Media CEO Michael Daly said: “The acquisition of Lineups.com strengthens Catena Media’s leading position in the growing US betting market with a complementary product that fits perfectly into our existing US portfolio. “It gives us a second, even stronger, national sports betting affiliation site, alongside thelines.com and this will allow us to capture more market share across North America, as well as to take advantage of shared tools across multiple Catena Media sites,” he added. Lineups founder Sam Shefrin will be onboarded as an executive consultant to Catena Media. Catena Media’s US business accounted for 31% of total revenue as of Q4 2020.