It has been a long time since David Beckham, the former player of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, no longer performs exploits on the lawns.
But the "Spice Boy" has found a new playing field with esports, the increasingly successful eSports competitions.
A sign of this enthusiasm, Guild Esports, of which Beckham is one of the shareholders, has just announced its plan to IPO on the London Stock Exchange, scheduled for the fall.
As part of this transaction, the British company plans to invest 40% of its capital and collect 20 million pounds (22 million euros).
To read also:
E-sport wants to "bring down to earth" teenagers who dream of becoming pro
Certainly, in terms of audiences and income, light years separate e-sport from football business for example, but several growth levers are similar: building competitive teams, bringing out personalities, developing derivative products or still find partners.
David Beckham recently converted to the discipline: in June, he invested some 27 million euros to become co-owner of Guild Esports.
The peculiarity of e-sport consists in not focusing on a single discipline in particular: football, tennis, cars… The confrontation grounds are legion, with competitors who insist on the ultra-demanding side of this sport. future.
It's up to David Beckham to step up behind the scenes: until then, the former football icon has had mixed success in business.