Cloud9 Is Valued At $310 Million, Making It The Most Valuable Esports Organization
Cloud9, owned by Jack and Paullie Etienne, is the world’s most valuable esports company with a value of $310 million. The top rank was provided by Forbes, which on October 23 unveiled its first-ever list of the world’s most valuable esports companies.
Behind Cloud9 is Team SoloMid, valued at $250 million. That organization is followed by Team Liquid, Echo Fox, OpTic Gaming, Fnatic, Gen. G Esports, G2 Esports, Immortals, Envy Gaming, 100 Thieves and Counter Logic Gaming.
The last company on the list, Counter Logic Gaming, is valued at $50 million. Altogether, the top twelve esports companies ranked by Forbes have a total value of over $1.7 billion. Video gaming has undoubtedly become big business.
Many of the top teams ranked by Forbes are competing in the same games. For instance, ten of the twelve teams ranked consider one of the primary games played the popular League of Legends. Only Envy Gaming and Immortals do not list League of Legends among the primary games played. Additionally, Fortnite is considered a primary game for nine of the twelve teams named on the inaugural list.
Cloud9 is not only the most valuable of the bunch, but also the largest organization among its peers. It has ninety-two players. Compare that to Immortals, coming in at ninth on the list, which only has twenty-two players.
However, Cloud9 is not number one when it comes to the number of teams that it manages. That spot is owned by Team Liquid, with a total of fourteen teams spread across games like Hearthstone, Clash Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Otherwise, Cloud9 is the franchise that other esports organizations are envying at the moment. Its Overwatch team won the first season of the newly created league, its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team took that top spot at a major tournament in 2018 and it continues a streak of appearing at the League of Legends
Further, Cloud9’s valuation is justified. It recently received $50 million in a Series B round led by Valor Equity Partners and included participation by TrueBridge Capital Partners, Reimagined Ventures and Glassdoor founder Robert Hohman. Prior investors include NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, Golden State Warriors owner Chamath Palihapitiya and NBA center Andrew Bogut.
