Spanish soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona has abandoned its plans to list “Barca Media”, the club’s content creation division, on Nasdaq.
Back in August 2023, Barcelona teamed up with Mountain & Co I Acquisition Corp to take Barca Media public via Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Barca Media, which encompasses all of the club’s digital and audiovisual production, was valued at $1 billion at the time and supposed to start trading at Nasdaq by the end of the year.
However, the venture has since met with a number of obstacles including the involvement of German investment firm Libero Football Finance as one of the investors. Libero didn’t pay the agreed amount of $43 million, which resulted in a lawsuit by Barcelona. The legal process is currently ongoing and was reportedly a reason why Barca Media never managed to get close to going public.
Barcelona and Mountain confirmed that their initial agreement has been terminated due to a “joint decision to focus on near-term business opportunities, which are best addressed in a private structure.”
Barcelona initially intended to use the collected funds from taking Barca Media public to ease their tough financial situation. However, with that opportunity now being off the table, the club will have to find a new way to get out of more than $1 billion in debt.