Investor money from Saudi Arabia
Billion deal for streaming providers DAZN
02/17/2025 – 7:40 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Rain for DAZN: The streaming provider has closed a lucrative deal with a sports investment fund from Saudi Arabia. There is now a ten -digit sum.
The streaming service DAZN has won a new investor. As the company announced on Monday, Surj Sports Investment (Surj), a Saudi Arabian sports investment fund, has acquired a minority stake in the British platform. Both parties did not provide any information about the financial details of the deal. However, various media report that DAZN should receive around one billion dollars.
In an explanation, DAZN announced that the “DAZN MENA” joint venture would be founded in the course of the agreement. This should create new transmission options in Saudi Arabia and enable fans better access to live and on-demand sports content.
DAZN holds numerous transmission rights worldwide, including boxes, basketball and selected games in the Bundesliga and large parts of the Champions League. In addition, the streaming service will appear as an exclusive broadcaster of the new club World Cup. The 63 games of the tournament in the USA (June 15 to July 13, 2025), in which Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund also take part, are to be shown free of charge. According to reports, the costs for this amount to one billion dollars.
The World Association FIFA had long searched for a media partner for its new club tournament. The agreement with DAZN came about after speculation had previously made that Saudi Arabia’s State Fund PIF could provide a significant financial injection for the streaming service. However, the PIF had denied these reports in October. A few weeks later, FIFA awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, which is repeatedly criticized due to its human rights situation.
The sports investment fund Surj was founded in 2023 and belongs to the Saudi Arabian state fund. According to the PIF website, Surj is a company that is specifically geared towards investments in the sports sector.