FanDuel CEO Matt King Stepping Down, Complicating Company’s IPO
Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images. Pictured: FanDuel CEO Matt King
FanDuel's parent company Flutter announced Tuesday morning that FanDuel Group CEO Matt King is stepping down. Sources said that it's King's personal decision and nothing indicative of the business, nor is anyone else at the top expected to leave.
With King at the helm, FanDuel transformed from a leader in daily fantasy to a leader in sports betting, going head-to-head with its daily fantasy competitor DraftKings for the mobile sportsbook space. They both hit the ground running in 2019, months after the Supreme Court's decision made it possibly for individual states to make their own decisions regarding the legality of sports gambling.
Flutter stock on the London Stock Exchange was down 3% on Wednesday.
Flutter, in a statement, said that King's stepping down would affect the possible timing of its entry into the US market through an IPO, which was expected by this summer. Flutter had hoped to do so despite an arbitration with Fox, which claims its option to buy 18.5% of FanDuel should come at a discount and not the full valuation as Flutter contends.
Fox's piece of the pie — Fox Bet and Pokerstars — only accounts for 8.4% of Flutter's U.S. revenue, Flutter said in an earnings call late last month.
King took over in late 2017, replacing Nigel Eccles. Unlike Eccles and other early FanDuel top executives, King did cash out when Flutter bought 58% of FanDuel in 2018 and another 37% later. Sources say that also factored in to King's decision to step away.
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