Sports streaming service fuboTV has pulled the plug on its gambling business and closed down its Fubo Gaming subsidiary and adjacent sportsbook product.
Although the company reported better than anticipated Q3 results, the decision to exit the online wagering business was taken to avoid jeopardising the group’s 2025 profitability goals amid the “challenging macroeconomic environment”.
The New York-listed group said that while multiple parties expressed an interest in the business, none of the opportunities would have allowed fubo to lower its funding requirements and generate sufficient returns to shareholders.
FuboTV expects to close Q3 2022 with North America revenue of at least $210m, an increase of approximately 34% year-on-year.
Rest of World (ROW) revenue is expected to be at least $5.5m, which includes Molotov, the French live TV streaming service acquired by fuboTV in December 2021.
Prior third quarter revenue guidance for the company’s North American streaming business was $200m to $205m and between $5 and $6m for ROW.
Paid subscribers in North America are expected to exceed 1.22 million, an increase of more than 27% year-over-year, with ROW paid subscribers expected to reach approximately 350,000.
FuboTV CEO David Gandler: “FuboTV’s strong preliminary Q3 2022 results reflect meaningful advancements against our continued mission to profitably scale a leading global live TV streaming platform differentiated by the greatest breadth of premium content and interactivity.”
FuboTV’s previous third-quarter subscriber guidance was 1.14 million to 1.16 million for North America, and 340,000 to 360,000 rest-of-world subscribers.
The group expects to post approximately negative $100m of adjusted EBITDA for the period, while its balance of cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q3 are expected to be at least $300m.
FuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler commented: “FuboTV’s strong preliminary third quarter 2022 results reflect meaningful advancements against our continued mission to profitably scale a leading global live TV streaming platform differentiated by the greatest breadth of premium content and interactivity.”
Gandler concluded that fuboTV expects to deliver strong revenue and subscriber growth in Q3 “against the backdrop of a highly competitive operating environment”.
“We’re pleased with this expected performance, and our progress toward achieving our positive cash flow target in 2025,” he added.
