TORONTO, June 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (TSXV: EGLX) (OTCQB: EGHIF), (“Enthusiast” or the “Company”), the largest publicly traded video game media and esports company in North America, is excited to announce that Luminosity Gaming (“Luminosity”) has signed four celebrity esports influencers to its team and launched the “LG Fortnite House”, a house and content hub for the Luminosity roster of gaming and esports professionals. The Luminosity team will be living and playing out of the house in Florida, and will continue to create rich content for the existing Luminosity Fanbase.
Four celebrity gaming influencers, Formula, Kiwiz, Nicks, and Randumb have joined the Luminosity family, and bring a unique and diverse style to an already successful roster of Luminosity creators. The group joins Luminosity having achieved collective success, amassing over 900,000 Twitter followers, 7 million YouTube followers, and close to 1 Billion total video views. They will be residents in the LG Fortnite House and will continue to provide innovative influencer content and an inside look into the house and players.
On May 31, 2019, Enthusiast announced that it had entered into an arrangement agreement with J55 Capital Corp. (“J55”) and Aquilini GameCo Inc. (“GameCo”) to form the leading publicly traded esports and gaming media organization in North America (the “Arrangement”). Immediately prior to the closing of the Arrangement, GameCo will complete its acquisition of Luminosity Gaming Inc. and Luminosity Gaming (USA), LLC (collectively, “Luminosity”). The completion of the transactions are subject to a number of closing conditions, including shareholder approvals and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Details regarding the transactions are included in the May 31, 2019 respective press releases of Enthusiast and J55.
Each new influencer adds a unique element to the rapidly growing Luminosity team:
- Formula, AKA Alex Kushelevskiy, started his career in gaming managing a number of popular organizations, eventually deciding to pursue a career as a creator. He has built a following through Fortnite of over 1,400,000 subscribers.
- Kiwiz, AKA John Payne, rose to fame on YouTube as a content creator in Fortnite, building a subscriber base of over 1,800,000 subscribers.
- Nicks, AKA Nick Spoerke, began his career as a creator in Call of Duty on Fortnite. He has a fan base of over 1,800,000 subscribers.
- Randumb, AKA Jordan Schneider, began his career on YouTube in early 2015, building his initial fan base in Call of Duty. Following his switch to Fortnite, he has built a fan base of over 2,000,000 subscribers.
Steve Maida, President of Luminosity commented, “Welcoming Formula, Kiwiz, Nicks, and Randumb to Luminosity adds another new and unique creative element to our growing franchise. We are on a mission to collaborate with players, influencers, and creators that can engage with our amazing fans, while we continue to build one of the leading esports team in the world.”
“We are excited with the growth of Luminosity’s team of talent and their ability to execute on the business model. Luminosity is a leader in discovering and developing gaming talent, content creators and influencers which will add almost 60 million followers to the combined network,” commented Menashe Kestenbaum, Founder and CEO of Enthusiast. “Welcoming four new influencers and the launch of the LG House in Florida, is an excellent growth step for Luminosity. Collectively, we are working on closing the announced merger, while we continue to operate and grow successful businesses within the gaming ecosystem.”
About Luminosity Gaming
Luminosity is a North American professional esports organization. Founded in 2015, in Canada by Steve Maida, with the goal of enabling aspiring competitive gamers to ultimately create sustainable careers, Luminosity now hosts some of the best-known professional gamers in the world. Luminosity has teams and championships in game titles such as Fortnite, Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Overwatch, PUBG, Halo, Madden and more. Luminosity scouts and hires players and teams who compete on the company’s behalf in tournaments online and in arenas around the world for prize money.
About Enthusiast Gaming
Founded in 2014, Enthusiast Gaming is the largest vertically integrated video game company and has the fastest-growing online community of video gamers. Through the Company’s unique acquisition strategy, it has a platform of over 80 owned and affiliated websites and currently reaches over 150 million monthly visitors with its unique and curated content and over 50 million YouTube visitors. Enthusiast also owns and operates Canada’s largest gaming expo, Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo, EGLX, (eglx.ca) with approximately 55,000 people attending in 2018. For more information on the Company, visit www.enthusiastgaming.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Investor Relations:
Julia Becker
Head of Investor Relations & Marketing
jbecker@enthusiastgaming.com
(604) 785.0850
Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend", “estimate” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of the transactions referred to in this press release (the “Transactions”) and the timing for their completion; the satisfaction of closing conditions for the Proposed Merger which include, without limitation: (i) required shareholder approval, (ii) necessary court approval, (iii) receipt of any required approvals, (iv) certain termination rights available to the parties under the merger agreement, (v) obtaining the necessary approvals from the TSXV, (vi) other closing conditions, including compliance by the parties with various covenants contained in the merger agreement, (vii) statements with respect to the effect of the Transactions on the parties; and (viii) statements with respect to the anticipated benefits associated with the Transactions.
Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions regarding Enthusiast, J55, Acquilini and Luminosity, including the completion of the Transactions, anticipated benefits from such Transactions, and expected growth, results of operations, performance, industry trends and growth opportunities. While Enthusiast, J55, Acquilini and Luminosity consider these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
The assumptions of Enthusiast, J55, Aquilini and Luminosity, although considered reasonable by them at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. In addition, forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; future legislative, tax and regulatory developments; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the inability to implement business strategies; competition; currency and interest rate fluctuations and other risks. Among other things, there can be no assurance that the Transactions will be completed or that the anticipated benefits from such Transactions will be achieved. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. For more information on the risk, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially, please refer to the public filings of Enthusiast which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect our expectations as of the date hereof, and thus are subject to change thereafter. Enthusiast, J55, Aquilini and Luminosity disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.