Modern Times Group has reportedly sold ESL Gaming, its esports organization, to Savvy Gaming Group for $1 billion, according to the German news site Handelsblatt. ESL Gaming operates some of the biggest esports tournaments in the world, most notably ESL One.
Savvy Gaming Group is backed by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Wealth Fund. The same fund recently purchased the Newcastle United football club.
ESL Gaming formed in 2020 from the merger of ESL and Dreamhack, both of which were owned by MTG at the time. Craig Levine and Ralf Reichert, co-CEOs of ESL, became co-CEOs of ESL Gaming. Both were major event operators in the space.
Other major esports tournament organizers include Major League Gaming, Gfinity, and Blast Premier. However, none are as big as ESL Gaming, especially once the aforementioned merger took place.