The joint partnership of the Associated Press and Fox Sports, Stats, LLC has been sold to Vista Equity Partners.
Stats is the premier sports data provider in the market. The company provides real time player, game and score statistics to all major sports including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. In addition, the company also provides the essential fantasy sports stats to the largest content providers such as ESPN and Yahoo that powers the fantasy football, fantasy baseball and fantasy basketball games.
Financial details were not disclosed however it was rumored that Stats was asking for $200 million several months ago as they were trying to be acquired. In the 2013 disclosure of financial information, The Associated Press announced that revenue was down for that year however the company did post a profit. Stat contributed about $5 million to the annual profit of the company. Stats was originally acquired by Fox Sports in 2000. Fox Sports was acquired by the Associated Press and News Corporation in 2005.
FtSb Says: The Associated Press owning Stats, which wasn't really an editorial content entity, seamed out of place. So the sale makes sense. The money from the sale will assist in AP's funding obligations for its pension program and help the AP invest in other editorial news ventures. Thus AP didn't really see the future potential of Stats. Stats has recently expanded to other markets and has partnered with the NBA for its SportsVU camera system. However, the AP still didn't believe in its future potential. It would seem that Fox Sports would have been a better fit to keep Stats as they could potential leverage Stats' market dominance in the area of sports statistics. But it too has let go of its stake.
