Blavatnik’s Access Industries wants Perform to be the ‘Netflix of Sports’

lenaccess

Len Blavatnik

Len Blavatnik’s private equity firm Access Industries is reported to have rejected a number of co-funding approaches from US tech giants in Perform Group (Perform).

This weekend The Daily Telegraph reported that Blavatnik had turned down equity funding partnerships from the likes of Amazon, Facebook and YouTube, as Access Industries aims to turn Perform into the ‘Netflix of Sports’.

The Ukrainian-born US finance magnet acquired the former FTSE-250 listed Perform Group in November 2014 for a reported +£700 million.  The company aims to become the global market leader in sports content, data and information distribution.

Seeking to shake-up the digital sports streaming market, In August 2016 Perform announced the launch of its DAZN Network for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Charging online viewers €9.99 a month, the DAZN network will HD stream Bundesliga highlights and further football matches from the Premier League, La Liga (Spain), Ligue 1 (France) and Serie A (Italy).

Furthermore, the DAZN network is set to further launch in Japan this week, where it has acquired the rights to stream J-League matches.

Perform governance is reported to want to grow its sports streaming services aggressively in the coming years. The sports media company aims to launch streaming services in four new territories within the coming months having taken out a £175 million from bond markets in 2015.