One Esports sheds staff in profit scramble

One Esports, the gaming arm of Singapore-based sports media firm Group One Holdings, laid off a number of staff in February that included full-time employees and freelancers.

A LinkedIn post by a senior staffer of One Esports said the move affected “essentially the entire company.” LinkedIn data suggests that over half of the gaming unit’s workforce were axed during that month and in March.

Winners of the One Esports Dota 2 competition / Photo credit: One Esports

In an email response to Tech in Asia, One Esports said only six full-time employees and some freelance editorial staff were affected by the retrenchment. While the company didn’t elaborate on the matter, it stressed that the layoffs were “in line with Group One Holdings’ drive to shareholder value optimization.”

Tech in Asia reached out to several retrenched staff, and three confirmed they had been laid off but didn’t comment further.

To date, Group One has raised a total of US$386 million and was last valued at US$1.2 billion, according to Tracxn data. Qatar Investment Authority and Guggenheim Investments poured US$150 million into the sports media company via its most recent funding round in 2021.

In October 2024, Group One also terminated a few dozen employees across One Esports and One Championship, its mixed martial arts platform, to slash costs and attain profitability, The Business Times reported.

That same month, Group One chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtog said in an internal email that the company was “on the verge” of being profitable. A few months earlier in June, Sityodtog was cited in media reports stating that the company aimed to reach profitability and positive cash flow by the third or fourth quarter of 2024.

But it remains unclear whether Group One hit this target since its 2023 and 2024 financials were not filed in Singapore. The company says it redomiciled to the Cayman Islands in mid-2022, “following this change, we no longer file group financial statements in Singapore.”

Tech in Asia understands that the company is facing some delays in completing the audit for its 2023 financials of One Group’s Singapore entity. This delay is mainly due to restructuring of the group entities following the company’s shift to the Cayman Islands.

Per its last disclosed financials in 2022, Group One narrowed its losses by over 80% year on year while its revenue grew by 24%. The bulk of its revenue came from broadcasting rights for One Championship’s mixed martial arts matches.

Tough time for esports business

Founded in 2011 by Sityodtong and Victor Cui, Group One started off with One Championship, whose events are now broadcast in more than 190 countries.

In 2019, Group One entered the esports arena with One Esports, which organizes and broadcasts esports events and tournaments across Asia. The unit also produces gaming content including articles, vlogs, documentaries, and reality shows.

One Esports brought in a net profit of in 2022 but incurred a net loss of US$3.7 million in 2023, according to the vertical’s financial data available via Handshakes.