World Chess is planning an $8 million (£6.9 million) IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
The firm, which was created in 2017 with the intention of “expanding chess to the worldwide mass market,” hopes to go public in November under the ticker symbol CHSS.
In recent years, chess has exploded in popularity, particularly during the Covid-19 outbreak and after the publication of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit.
A Michigan Journal of Economics article describes the “rapid revival” of chess.
According to the report, the so-called ‘New Chess Boom’ explains ‘the growth in viewership and playing of chess around the globe beginning in 2018 and accelerating in March 2020 as people were forced to resort to the internet for additional entertainment
In a statement, World Chess CEO Ilya Merenzon lauded the resurgence of interest in chess for facilitating a public offering. He did not specify whether there had been any buyer interest in the IPO.
He continued, “I am thrilled to announce our desire to IPO on the London Stock Exchange at a transformative period for chess and our company.
“Interest in chess continues to explode, a trend that has risen in recent years and surged even more during the pandemic. To accommodate this expansion, we are scaling up our operations and increasing our foreign service offerings.
We feel that chess is the only remaining mass-participation sport that has not fully benefited from the ingenuity and investment of the private sector.
In 2017, World Chess was founded as a holding company to provide chess-related business activities.
This involves the organization of high-level tournaments, the operation of the official online gaming platform of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), and the marketing of chess-related sports, lifestyle, and commerce.
The company has offices in Germany and Georgia in addition to its London headquarters but works internationally.
As a result of the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, World Chess effectively terminated all business operations in Russia, selling all of its Russian assets and moving its workforce.
The Globe Chess Federation believes that there are currently over 600 million active chess players in the world, a number that is increasing due to the proliferation of online platforms.
In contrast to other sports, chess is considerably less commercialized, and business expansion is still in its infancy.
In light of this, the firm feels it is “best-positioned to capitalize on the sector’s growth through online, in-person, and hybrid chess events and activities, as well as by providing complementing product offerings to players, spectators, and partners.”
