Danske Spil sells majority stake in Swush.com to Ekstra Bladet

Danish state-owned gaming operator Danske Spil has agreed a deal to sell its majority stake in fantasy sports platform Swush.com to Danish newspaper brand Ekstra Bladet.

The sale includes the popular fantasy sports game Holdet.dk, which has around 190,000 users across Denmark, with the agreement subject to approval at Danske Spil's extraordinary general meeting later this month.

“Holdet.dk has a completely unique market position, and we are delighted that they will now become part of Ekstra Bladet,” said Ekstra Bladet editor-in-chief Anders Borup Sørensen. “Just under nine months ago, we bought Denmark's largest and strongest football media site, bold.dk, and now we are supplementing it with Holdet.dk. That combination delivers on our razor-sharp strategic ambitions, where sport is absolutely essential.”

Ekstra Bladet commercial director Signe Skarequist commented: “Holdet.dk, bold.dk and Ekstra Bladet are, in short, a perfect match. We see great potential in further developing Holdet.dk's strong position and business together.

“The purchase of Holdet.dk is a clear underlining of Ekstra Bladet's ambition to create strong digital media that delivers appealing and relevant content to a large audience.”

Holdet.dk will continue to operate as an independent brand and business, and will be further developed in close cooperation with its two founders, Ole Christensen and Jesper Bjørn Carstensen.

“Jesper and I launched Holdet.dk in 2009, and we are incredibly proud to have created such a large and popular game universe that thousands of committed couch managers use daily,” said Christensen, who serves as managing director of Swush.com. “We look forward to working closely with Ekstra Bladet and bold.dk to make sports more fun for even more sports fans.”

Danske Spil had acquired a 60 per cent stake in Swush.com in July 2015 through its Danske Licens Spil subsidiary.

“We have greatly appreciated the co-ownership, and we are proud of recent years' progress in Swush and for Holdet.dk,” said Danske Spil CEO Nikolas Lyhne-Knudsen, who is also chairman of Danske Licens Spil. “At the same time, we are happy that we have now found a good, new home for Holdet.dk.

“We look forward to following the further development under Ekstra Bladet, where the game platform matches better with the company's strategic ambitions, and that they can thus help lift Holdet.dk further.”