BoxRec

Triller To Go Public At $5 Billion Valuation

Triller, the short video social networking app that touts itself as a rival to Tik-Tok and has made a name for itself through its streaming of combat sports events, is headed to the public market on the heels of a reverse merger with SeaChange International, a publicly-traded digital advertising company, the companies announced Wednesday in a joint press release.

A reverse merger allows a private company to become public without the rigor and complexities that typically attend a normal IPO.

The combined company will be called TrillerVerz Corp. and will be valued at $5 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Ostensibly a music app, Triller is probably best known lately for its inroads in the boxing sphere under its Fight Club label. Since 2020, it has put on fight cards featuring the likes of Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., and Jake Paul, drawing mainstream attention. But the company has also earned much ire for the way it has conducted some of its business. It shocked the boxing world earlier in the year when it won the rights to promote the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos lightweight unification bout, beating incumbent entities like Matchroom and Top Rank. But after a series of highly publicized, ham-handed delays and excuses, the company reneged on its bid.

Triller was co-founded by Ryan Kavanaugh, a divisive figure in entertainment circles after his Hollywood studio, Relativity, went bankrupt in spectacular fashion in 2015. Kavanaugh has been a magnet for criticism in the boxing world concerning his seemingly slipshod and, at times, morally ambiguous handling of certain events, most notably the Evander Holyfield-Vitor Belfort pay-per-view show in September which saw the 59-year-old Holyfield get stopped in the first round.

It is not clear what Kavanaugh’s role will be in the new arrangement, as his name was not mentioned in the press release announcing the merger.

According to the release, TrillerVerz will be led by CEO Mahi de Silva.

“In our short history, we have evolved from a disruptive social media platform and creator of content to one of the world’s most successful platforms where creators, commerce, and culture meet,” de Silva said in the announcement. “We believe TrillerVerz is becoming the voice of youth culture, a brand that sits at the nexus of content, creator, commerce, and culture in the digital world. Our strategy is to continue to build the world’s largest stage for creators to distribute and monetize viral and engaging content with experiences that elevate culture. We believe that combining with SeaChange accelerates our advertising and marketing capabilities by extending our reach to cable, satellite, and OTT media.”

Triller is reportedly preparing another pay-per-view combat sports show — Triad Combat 2 — in February, featuring a matchup between former UFC champion Vitor Belfort and former light heavyweight boxing champion Chad Dawson. Heavyweight Kubrat Pulev, a winner on the inaugural Triad Combat show, will also reportedly be on the show, potentially against former UFC heavyweight Junior Dos Santos.

So they aren't going away just yet?
Dammit.
Stoopid Triller.

I refuse to belive they are worth5 billion.

Sounds like someone is cooking books to get people to buy in. Pump “revenue” into it for 2 years, project growth, sell shares, make back the “revenue” you pumped into it and some.

gregregegg wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 18:14 I refuse to belive they are worth5 billion.

Sounds like someone is cooking books to get people to buy in. Pump “revenue” into it for 2 years, project growth, sell shares, make back the “revenue” you pumped into it and some.

UFC is worth around $10bn which I still think is inflated, no chance Triller is legitimately valued at $5bn, especially given how they've struggled to Pay fighters, organise events and have desperately chased lost streaming revenue.

joshj909 wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 19:04

gregregegg wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 18:14 I refuse to belive they are worth5 billion.

Sounds like someone is cooking books to get people to buy in. Pump “revenue” into it for 2 years, project growth, sell shares, make back the “revenue” you pumped into it and some.

UFC is worth around $10bn which I still think is inflated, no chance Triller is legitimately valued at $5bn, especially given how they've struggled to Pay fighters, organise events and have desperately chased lost streaming revenue.

Same. But Triller isn’t just the recent boxing crap they’ve been doing. They do loads of other stuff.

I don't care what the name of the company is as they just rebrand half the time when it goes tits up and will come back as someone else anyways.
As a boxing fan it's simple for me ...
What fights are you showing and how much are you charging ?

gregregegg wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 18:14I refuse to belive they are worth5 billion.

I’ve read that Triller is a TikTok rival looking to merge with SeaChange.

The Triller business has rapidly grown via acquisitions of Thuzio, Amplify AI, FITE TV, Verzuz (Swizz Beats & Timbaland).

The company is also established and is rapidly expanding its presence in the metaverse.

So part of its perceived valuation is probably based on the projected commercial growth, meaning that shareholders are willing to pay a premium to realise a significant return in their investments, which probably explains the inflated $5bn company value.

I’m not a financial specialist, but I have jumped on the recent metaverse investment bandwagon based on announcements performed by commercial giants, such as: Facebook; Nvidia; Microsoft; Amazon; Epic etc.

I like making investment risks and my company pension scheme is rubbish, meaning I have to do something if I eventually plan to retire.

Perhaps there's someone from this forum that knows more about Triller's $5bn valuation than I do, but I've done my best to explain my high-level thoughts?

Having had a quick read of the Wikipedia pages (I know...) for Ryan Kavanaugh and Triller. It appears there's been numerous claims of false reporting of many different types of figures in addition to overspending and especially Bankruptcy by Kavanaugh who also filed for Bankruptcy with his last company. It looks like he enjoys spending other people's money to fake it until he makes it hoping they'll eventually be too big to fail. This reeks of pump and dump.

The UFC sold for 4 billion dollars about 5 years ago. Dana White said it’s worth $10 billion. Did the UFC more than double its value in the last five years? I don’t know, but I think it has surpassed boxing in popularity in the last few years. The UFC owns a large stable of fighters. What does Triller own? They just match up these old formerly retired boxers with other boxers or mixed martial artists. Other businesses could do the same. I don’t think Triller is worth $5 billion. It may not even be worth $1 billion.

RScarf1 wrote: ↑24 Dec 2021, 07:09 The UFC sold for 4 billion dollars about 5 years ago. Dana White said it’s worth $10 billion. Did the UFC more than double its value in the last five years? I don’t know, but I think it has surpassed boxing in popularity in the last few years. The UFC owns a large stable of fighters. What does Triller own? They just match up these old formerly retired boxers with other boxers or mixed martial artists. Other businesses could do the same. I don’t think Triller is worth $5 billion. It may not even be worth $1 billion.

Like I said in my previous post, boxing is only a tiny part of Trillers commercial portfolio.

I don’t know enough to say whether the $5bn valuation is valid or not.

But I do know enough not to estimate its valuation purely based on its boxing events.

Interesting

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 17:38 Heavyweight Kubrat Pulev, a winner on the inaugural Triad Combat show, will also reportedly be on the show, potentially against former UFC heavyweight Junior Dos Santos.

Nice little final chapter to his career, Pulev has there. Getting paid to run over non-boxers.

Vimeo has a market cap of 3b with 200mm users

Triller has like 2mm users

Id say this ipo fails. Just a hunch

If Triller was on the TV show Shark Tank, the sharks would all be saying “I’m out.”

RScarf1 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2021, 13:24 If Triller was on the TV show Shark Tank, the sharks would all be saying “I’m out.”

I don't know enough about these big buisnes tech related companies to have an opinion, but 5 billion seems unreal.

RScarf1 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2021, 13:24 If Triller was on the TV show Shark Tank, the sharks would all be saying “I’m out.”

Best answer

gregregegg wrote: ↑23 Dec 2021, 18:14 I refuse to belive they are worth5 billion.

Sounds like someone is cooking books to get people to buy in. Pump “revenue” into it for 2 years, project growth, sell shares, make back the “revenue” you pumped into it and some.

A worthless pixel art NFT got sold for $69 Million at a Christie's auction. A banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000. Dogecoin's market cap grew to $25 Billion after Elon Musk tweeted about the joke cryptocurrency.

The inflation before the great depression was a joke compared to how things are overvalued today. If Triller wants to give me some shared then I will accept their gift. Otherwise I'm out.