Fortnite maker Epic Games is raising $750 million, according to two sources who spoke to GamesBeat. Bloomberg reported the news first, but we have independently confirmed the details in our story.
The deal would give Epic a pre-money valuation of $16.3 billion, with a post-money valuation (the value of the company after the deal is done) of $17 billion. Epic Games is the developer and publisher of Fortnite, which has more than 350 million users. And it is also the creator of the Unreal Engine, a fundamental toolset for building many games (and increasingly, making movies and TV). Epic declined to comment.
Bloomberg said that new investors participating in this round are T. Rowe Price Group and Baillie Gifford. Existing investors KKR & Co. will also participate, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.
The deal also gives us a window into the company’s current financial picture, as the privately held Epic does not disclose its revenues or profits.
In 2019, Epic Games reported $4.2 billion in revenue and $730 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA, a key measure of profitability). Revenue for 2020 is forecast to be $5 billion, with EBITDA of $1 billion.
In April alone, thanks to the pandemic, Fortnite revenue was $400 million, sources told me. Epic has said that in April, players spent 3.2 billion hours in the battle royale shooter. Fortnite also garnered a huge amount of attention for staging a virtual Travis Scott concert that drew more than 27 million people.
In 2018, Epic Games did better than it did in 2019. Revenue in 2018 was $5.6 billion. Epic used a lot of that money to invest in its Epic Games Store, expanding its staff for Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and some acquisitions.
The company has raised $1.6 billion to date, including $1.25 billion raised in 2018. Tencent bought 40% of the company in 2012 and it remains a shareholder.
[Update: 8:24 a.m. 6/16/20 Fixing this part: Shareholders is not selling stake. The company is raising funds.]