Versant has cut an agreement for its biggest acquisition yet: a $530 million deal to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company.
Full Swing is best known for its advanced golf simulators, tracking and analytics software, though it also plays in other sports like baseball. Versant is paying $530 million in cash for the company, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
The deal will bolster Golf Channel, arguably Versant’s flagship sports property, and the business line that CEO Mark Lazarus touts as the best example of where he wants to take the rest of the company. Golf Channel, after all, has the linear cable channel, but also GolfPass, a subscription and golf instruction product, as well as GolfNow, which provides software to book tee times and help golf courses manage reservations.
“Our golf business is nearly 50% pay TV and 50% other revenue and profit. And that is a goal for us against those other verticals as well, where we’re more heavily dependent today on the pay TV revenue,” Lazarus said on the Mixed Signals podcast last year. “So that’s kind of why it’s the model home for what we’re trying to do across the rest of the businesses.”
Full Swing adds advanced analytics and performance data, as well as Full Swing’s simulator entertainment business, to that portfolio. Versant has been seeking deals for companies that can tuck into its existing verticals, as it has done with Free TV Networks to its entertainment business, and StockStory, which it folded into CNBC. That said, executives at the company have also expressed interest in adding other linear businesses, provided they fit into their go-forward strategy.
