Soulja Boy Is Not Actually Receiving $400 Million USD from World Poker Fund
“He really kind of jumped the gun.”
The internet blew up at the confirmation that Soulja Boy landed a $400 million USD deal with World Poker, with many doubting his claims in disbelief. Well, many were right to be dubious, as there are plenty of reasons to take a closer look at the deal and the company. Well, World Poker Fund spokesperson Matthew Bird decided to finally clear up some details. According to Bird, Soulja Boy will be joining World Poker Fund’s CelebrityWorld.com, which is a “celebrity owned social gaming site” that will be integrated into WPFH’s upcoming in-flight gaming system. Bird claims that CelebrityWorld.com, while still in beta, is already earning revenue. World Poker Fund values its in-flight gaming system at $570 million USD, which, according to Bird is calculated through “traditional incentive-based gaming assumptions.” Despite this number, it isn’t yet reflected in the company’s worth. According to CNNMoney, WPFH has a market capitalization of $52 million USD, with over $400,000 USD of losses in the last year.
So with all this cleared up, how is the company going to pay Soulja Boy $400 million USD? Basically, it’s not, and Soulja Boy fudged the details when tweeting out his deal. The $400 million USD number is actually what the deal is capped at, and includes both stock and revenue-sharing. “He really kind of jumped the gun. The deal is capped at $400 million, and it’s based on a forward-thinking valuation of the company. He’s young, he’s 25 years old. He got really excited, and he tweeted something he probably shouldn’t have tweeted. He was getting a lot of pressure from within the entertainment community, so he wanted to put a statement out. Obviously, the company’s market cap is at $51.8 million. There’s no way they could cut a $400 million deal. Endorsement deals are calculated on a lot of different factors. This is not a fully cash transaction,” says Bird.
Furthermore, Bird claims that another “mega-celebrity” will be joining its roster. It was also recently revealed that both Justin Bieber and Floyd Mayweather are both shareholders in the company.
