Mail.Ru Group acquires Russian eSports leader ESforce for $100M

Russian internet giant Mail.Ru has fully acquired eSports outfit ESforce in an all-cash deal worth $100 million. 

ESforce is one of the biggest eSports companies in the world, and is the largest in Russia and Eastern Europe. 

The company is a diverse outfit, and owns popular eSports teams SK Gaming and Virtus Pro, the 1000 capacity Yota Arena eSports stadium in Moscow, global eSports database CyberBase, a variety of trading and analytics platforms, and international eSports merch retailer, Fragstore. 

In 2017 the business had 116 million users, and revenues for the year are expected to clock in at around $19 million -- a 150 percent increase on 2016. 

"We are very pleased that the talented team who have been responsible for building this business will all be remaining with the company," said Mail.Ru Group CEO, Boris Dobrodeev. 

"We will be looking to leverage our unrivaled position inside of the social networks and gaming in order to drive ESforce to even great success."