Daily fantasy sports site FanDuel continues to shed ties with the people that brought it into being.
What we know on Friday about FanDuel
FanDuel officially announced on Friday that co-founder Tom Griffiths is leaving the company to start a new venture in AI. The move comes shortly after CEO and co-founder Nigel Eccles left as well to start a company focused on the esports sector.
Sources had been aware that Griffith’s departure was imminent late in 2017. Griffiths had already given up his board position in August of last year.
On Friday, FanDuel also announced that Andy Giancamilli would be taking over the role of chief operating officer. He will stay on in his role of chief financial officer. Matt King took over as CEO in November.
“There is incredible momentum across the sports tech industry with new opportunities and innovations on the horizon for FanDuel,” said Giancamilli in a press release. “I am excited to work with Matt King again as we continue to steer the company toward the future and look to taking FanDuel to new heights.”
Another FanDuel co-founder out
Along with Eccles, Griffiths helped create the company that led the daily fantasy sports revolution starting in 2007.
While FanDuel was not the first company to try to speed up fantasy sports by offering a daily version of it, it was the first to really gain traction in the format. It led the industry by a wide margin until DraftKings ascended to the No. 1 position in recent years.
According to FanDuel, Griffiths led the design, build and launch of FanDuel’s website and mobile apps and oversaw innovations such as Friends Mode and NBA InPlay.
“It has been an honor to help build and lead a world-class product development organization at FanDuel,” said Griffiths. “Being a part of this industry has been an incredible journey and I am extremely proud of what we have created. I cannot wait to see what Andy, Matt, and rest of the amazingly talented team have in store.”
“Tom was a valued leader at FanDuel — this product would not be where it is today without him,” said King. “We know Tom will be successful in all of his future endeavors and Andy is the right person to take on the opportunities that we have in front of us.”
No replacement was named according to a press release of the company.
What’s next for FanDuel?
Signs continue to point to a potential sale of FanDuel sometime this year.
Consolidation of what was two positions into a single person would seemingly point to a further trimming down by the DFS company shortly after a round of layoffs.
After ceding the No. 1 position in DFS to DraftKings, FanDuel has been focused on becoming profitable. The company has told Legal Sports Report in the past that its projections had it in the black for both the final quarter of 2017 and the full 2018.
