Dazn, the famous platform that broadcasts football in Italy and Europe via the Internet, is increasingly a bloodbath and is on the way to accumulating almost 4 billion dollars in losses, according to reports The Sun 24 hours. Its business model (costs of 2 billion and revenues of 870 million) is struggling to stand up and it is precisely Dazn's financial statements in deep red that worry its boss, the tycoon of Russian-Ukrainian origins but today an American and English citizen , Leo Blavatnik, who got rich with privatizations at the time of Yeltsin and with subsequent deals especially in aluminum and oil, to the point of becoming – with assets of 40 billion dollars – the richest man in England and to make up the image with an intense philanthropist activity that earned him the title of baronet of Queen Elizabeth II. Of him we remember above all the donations of 75 million pounds to the University of Oxford and 200 million pounds to Harvard Medical School but also the generous and discussed gifts to former US President Donald Trump and American conservatives.
Dazn's losses worry Blavatnik more than anti-Putin sanctions
For sure Dazn's losses worry Blavatnik more than sanctions which have hit many Russian oligarchs in England (first of all Roman Abramovich, forced to sell his Chelsea, which could end up in the hands of some American fund) and which so far have not even touched him both for the merits acquired in the United Kingdom and because the boss of Dazn has long been an American citizen and an English citizen at the same time. Not only that but Blavatnik's spokesman was keen to clarify that it is completely inappropriate to define the tycoon as a former oligarch because, according to him, he is not and never was.
That Dazn, which in 2016 was valued at 3 billion after just one year of activity, is a bottomless pit rather than a goose that lays golden eggs, even Tim, the first Italian telephone company, has noticed last year he reached an agreement with Dazn to broadcast Serie A football matches on its network. The revenues collected by Tim are, however, very far from the objectives originally set and it is no coincidence that the telephone company asked Dazn - which in the meantime has hired l 'former CEO of Tim, Franco Bernabè - to renegotiate the agreements and lower costs, reserving the right to take legal action in the event of no agreement.
The pains of war hurt more than Dazn, but sooner or later even a tycoon gets tired of losing money
Compared to the pains of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which certainly hurt Blavatnik's heart, Dazn's losses may seem like a small thing and they certainly are, but even for a tycoon of his caliber, who can also include the famous record company Warner Music and the luxury brand Tory Burch, throwing money to the wind is never a pleasure and sooner or later he will want to stop the dilapidation of resources in which Dazn seems to have specialized.
