Esports Entertainment Group COO and CFO resigns amid ongoing troubles
Damian Mathews will stay on the board of directors, with Michael Villani appointed interim CFO, as firm looks to move on from tricky 18 months
Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) COO and CFO Damian Mathews has announced his resignation but will stay on at the beleaguered firm as part of the board of directors.
Mathews stepped down from his position on 31 December 2022, with Michael Villani taking the role of interim CFO from 6 January 2023.
Villani originally joined EEG in February 2021 as the group’s financial controller. Before that, he worked as a director in the deal advisory practice of KPMG, supporting clients with technical accounting, buy-side and sell-side transactions, initial public offerings and SEC reporting.
This C-level change comes less than a month after EEG relieved former CEO Grant Johnson of his position due to the board being of the opinion he was uncooperative in some objectives of the higher-ups at EEG.
The firm announced on 3 January 2023 that Alex Igelman would take over as the new company CEO.
EEG has faced a number of issues over the last 18 months which has seen its stock price plummet to, at the time of writing, $0.07 per share.
In May, as part of its earnings report, the firm announced it was going to “aggressively” cut costs across its brands in an attempt to try and record savings.
This led to the firm announcing the closure of its esports-dedicated sportsbook Vie.gg in October, less than a year after it launched the brand.
Vie.gg launched in New Jersey in January, expecting to draw between $1m-$2m (£820,000-£1.6m) in revenue. However, this proved to be wildly optimistic, with the brand only returning a meagre $590 in revenue in August 2022.
EEG also shuttered the SportNation and RedZone brands in the UK in November.
EEG currently operates Bethard and Dino Lucky Gaming.