FaZe Clan has been bought after a dire financial year

20 October, 2023

Lil Uzi Vert at Faze Clan's 'Goin Public' Party. Credit: Andrew Toth / Stringer / Getty Images.

FaZe Clan, the esports and entertainment company founded by a trio of Call Of Duty players, has been bought by GameSquare following a disastrous financial year.

“The acquisition brings together two complementary businesses to create one of the world’s leading content, media and entertainment companies focused on gaming, esports, and youth culture,” read the press release.

Aims of the acquisition include to “reestablish authenticity” with the return of founders Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson, Thomas “FaZe Temperrr” Oliveira and Yousef “FaZe Apex” Abdelfattah into executive roles.

‘Call Of Duty: Warzone’ running on a PC Credit: Fábio Magalhães via Unsplash

Bengtson will be the chief executive officer, Oliveira will be the president and Abdelfattah will be the chief operating officer.

“I’m confident that with Tommy, Apex and me back in charge of the brand, FaZe Clan will get back to where it was in its peak years,” said Bengtson.

Previously, Bengtson called the executives who assisted the company’s merger and debut on the stock market “corporate fucks” in a post to X (fka Twitter).

“Give us our brand back, you stole it in the first place. It goes to zero otherwise. You have no idea what FaZe is,” he said in April.

A person playing ‘Overwatch’ on a PC Credit: Florian Olivo

Though FaZe Clan possesses 512 million followers across its social media presences, costs spiralled out of control under Lee Trink’s stint as CEO.

The company reported a $28.4million (£23.4million) loss in the first half of 2023, and its shares have fallen from $24 (£19) to less than 20 cents (16 pence) between September 2022 and September 2023.

GameSquare’s acquisition will transfer 55 per cent of ownership to its shareholders and it expects to see $18 million in run-rate cost savings as a result of the collaboration.

In other gaming news, Industrial Annihilation has been announced by developer Galactic Annihilation, promising “a unique blend of genres: deep factory building combined with real-time strategy action”.

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