WWE Invests in eSports Organization Cloud9

– WWE has put their money into the eSports game. ESPN reports that the company has invested in Cloud9, who run teams in Overwatch, League of Legends, Counter-Strike and more. The company joins the likes of Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, San Francisco Giants player Hunter Pence, the Beverly Hills Sports Council, Creative Artists Agency co-founder Michael Ovitz and others in providing a total of $25 million to c9.

WWE’s Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios said of the investment, “We just looked around the space, looked at all the players and did our own evaluation of who we thought would be successful in the long term. We just thought that the Cloud9 team had developed lots of expertise and we’re just really, really impressed with Jack [Etienne, the Cloud9 CEO] and the rest of the staff; how professional they were, how organized and how much infrastructure they had built for a small organization. We thought they were on their way. We looked at a lot of players, and they were the ones we put in the top tier.”

Cloud9 runs was recently awarded the London franchise spot in Blizzard’s Overwatch League and earned a spot in the League of Legends Championship Series. The expenses for those and other franchise fees are believed to total as high as $30 million. The $25 million invested was for Series A financing, the first round of venture capital financing.

In addition to Overwatch, LoL and Counter-Strike, c9 has teams in Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros., Rocket League, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and VainGlory.