Loxley Profile Blog Joined April 2011 Netherlands 2480 Posts Last Edited: 2013-04-06 13:46:06 #1



Introduction ..........................................................................................

A Small history of Azubu in Esports .......................................................

Azubu SC2 .......................................................................................

Latest Sponorships ...........................................................................

The Company Azubu .........................................................................

Products ...............................................................................................

More Questions ..................................................................................

References and updates ...............................................................................



Azubu. The name exploded on the e-sports scene and hasn’t gone since, instead they are growing their franchise with more and bigger investments. But what is Azubu? I never heard of it before and still only barely understand who they are, and what they doing .



It didn’t bother or intrigue me too much until I recently read the article [GSTL] Azubu vs. Prime Preview

“It's undeniable that at this point in time, Azubu the entity, is more intriguing than Azubu the professional StarCraft II team. After all, we still don't know what Azubu is even now, nearly a year after they made themselves known by sponsoring OnGameNet's League of Legends tournament, under the pretense of being some sort of 'gaming social media site' or whatever. One comically poorly made streaming site, one CSL sponsorship, and one abandoned League of Legends team later, we can't say we've really learned much more about them. Still, it's not like we dislike them for being so shrouded, considering the kind of money they're pumping into the scene. Azubu is like the rich friend you appreciate always picking up the tab at the bar, but are secretly wondering if he's actually a drug dealer.



So what is Azubu? According to webster the term azubu refers tot his:

Azabu (麻布) is a district of Minato Ward in Tokyo, Japan, built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo. It is known as Tokyo's most prominent upscale residential district: many artists, businesspeople, and celebrities reside there.



We can’t actually make anything of this. So let’s start with what we do know.







Azubu. The name exploded on the e-sports scene and hasn’t gone since, instead they are growing their franchise with more and bigger investments. But what is Azubu? I never heard of it beforeIt didn’t bother or intrigue me too much until I recently read the article http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=405423 . Editor Waxangel apparently shares my complete absence of knowledge of this company because he states:So what is Azubu? According to webster the term azubu refers tot his:We can’t actually make anything of this. So let’s start with what we do know. A short history of Azubu in esports



Azubu founded in 2011 first started sponsoring a big event in 2012. Namely the LoL tournament “Azubu the Champions Spring 2012”. Featuring a prize pool of $179.000 this was no small handwave to every gamer out there, but instead a headbutt into esports. The champions of this tournament was the team Maximum Impact Gaming Blaze (MiG Blaze) with runnerup team MiG Frost.

Blaze had won ~89.000 dollars with Frost striking silver with ~35.000 dollars. Apparently Azubu thought it would be a good idea to pay their champions some more in the near future by offering them their sponsorship. This would form the LoL teams Azubu Blaze and Azubu Frost (June 2012).

Kevin Kwon, Azubu’s Global Esports Manager had this to say in an interview with Mobafire.com regarding the sponsorship with Ongamenet’s The Champions, and their purchase of teams Blaze and Frost:

Azubu founded in 2011 first started sponsoring a big event in 2012. Namely the LoL tournament “Azubu the Champions Spring 2012”. Featuring a prize pool of $179.000 this was no small handwave to every gamer out there, but instead a headbutt into esports. The champions of this tournament was the team Maximum Impact Gaming Blaze (MiG Blaze) with runnerup team MiG Frost.Blaze had won ~89.000 dollars with Frost striking silver with ~35.000 dollars. Apparently Azubu thought it would be a good idea to pay their champions some more in the near future by offering them their sponsorship. This would form the LoL teams Azubu Blaze and Azubu Frost (June 2012)., Azubu’s Global Esports Manager had this to say in an interview with Mobafire.com regarding the sponsorship with Ongamenet’s The Champions, and their purchase of teams Blaze and Frost:

Can you tell us how your involvement with OnGameNet came to be? How did it first start?



As you know OGN is the company that broadcasts gaming match in Korea. When he heard from that they will be doing something with Riot we thought why not? It was not something that we did to follow our business plan or because we had something special with OGN. OGN was looking for a major sponsor and Azubu being interested in the LOL just agreed to it.

What was the reasoning for buying the Maximum Impact Gaming teams after the The Champions Spring?



Well, like I mentioned from other question we were very interested in E-sports and had ideas to build the E-sports industry. Azubu Blaze & Frost teams are the chosen team, because they won the champion league and we saw their potential to grow bigger. They are currently doing great job and we are very proud them for wining MLG Summer Arena.



Interestinly he mentions the reasoning behind the OngameNet involvement as “we just agreed to it”. It being the major sponsor for a LoL tournament. The keyword for me here is “Just”. It doesn’t show any sign of this being a product of heavy negotations. Ofcourse it could be bigtalk, but in the rest of the interview it seems that every decision from Azubu in esports seems to be the result of “just doing it”. They wanted to get involved, so they did it.

After their introduction to LoL they proceeded with sponsoring the Summer edition of the tournament (prize pool $128.000). The teams Frost and Blaze wouldn’t be the only ones getting Azubu dollars. With their presence now well known in the LoL scene they branded outward towards SC2.





Interestinly he mentions the reasoning behind the OngameNet involvement as “we just agreed to it”. It being the major sponsor for a LoL tournament. The keyword for me here is “Just”. It doesn’t show any sign of this being a product of heavy negotations. Ofcourse it could be bigtalk, but in the rest of the interview it seems that every decision from Azubu in esports seems to be the result of “just doing it”. They wanted to get involved, so they did it.After their introduction to LoL they proceeded with sponsoring the Summer edition of the tournament (prize pool $128.000). The teams Frost and Blaze wouldn’t be the only ones getting Azubu dollars. With their presence now well known in the LoL scene they branded outward towards SC2. Azubu’s introduction to SC2



On august first 2012 they signed a personal sponsorship with . Just like their first footsteps on the LoL scene, they didn’t came to SC2 to shuffle but to dance. Following the personal sponsorship they formed a Azubu team. Following viOLet came as coach. This took place in october, with november being a slow month. They soon picked up their pace again with starting gun NaDa as teammanager they gathered the pieces for a full team fast. joined as coach and with so many coaches they could use some players: Eve, Genius, TOP, InCa, VINES, and completed the 2012 lineup.

In january 2013 they continued with what they do best: gathering headlines with the pickups of SuperNova, GanZi, and . A full team of big names later they had created the Azubu professional SC2 team. Joining eSF now would be logical, so they did in february 2013.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/AZUBU



And as a sidenote, Nada forms a team with Last Pride in the game World of Tanks. Also sponsored by Azubu.

But not only did they create a brand new SC2 team by picking up big players, they also made sure to sponsor a Tournament. Not as big as the LoL tournament The Champions; they purchased the rights to sponsor and stream the CSL on september 26.

With the statement; On august first 2012 they signed a personal sponsorship with viOLet . Just like their first footsteps on the LoL scene, they didn’t came to SC2 to shuffle but to dance. Following the personal sponsorship they formed a Azubu team. Following viOLet came IntoTheRain as coach. This took place in october, with november being a slow month. They soon picked up their pace again with starting gunas teammanager they gathered the pieces for a full team fast. Iris joined as coach and with so many coaches they could use some players: Sleep and San completed the 2012 lineup.In january 2013 they continued with what they do best: gathering headlines with the pickups of Symbol and BBoongBBoong . A full team of big names later they had created the Azubu professional SC2 team. Joining eSF now would be logical, so they did in february 2013.But not only did they create a brand new SC2 team by picking up big players, they also made sure to sponsor a Tournament. Not as big as the LoL tournament The Champions; they purchased the rights to sponsor and stream the CSL on september 26.With the statement;

In moving forward with striking changes, the face of collegiate eSports has taken on an entirely new and global guise. Today, the Collegiate Starleague is proud to announce that Azubu, the professional games media company, has entered the field with us as a partner and sponsor.

They form the Azubu Collegiate Starleague. Prizepool: $83.000



Top



They form the Azubu Collegiate Starleague. Prizepool: $83.000 Latest Sponsorship developements



Big North American professional gaming organisation“CounterLogic Gaming” announces on january 16th that they form a partnership with Azubu. It is supposed to be a extensive partnership with the organisation using the stream medium Azubu.tv and also setting up a North American branch of Azubu, complementing their locations in Germany and South-Korea. This was the statement following the partnership:



Partnership with Azubu

Today CLG is excited to announce its partnership with eSports media giant, Azubu. Though they’ve been around less than a year, Azubu has already made a significant impact on the eSports scene through their sponsorship of The Champions League, Collegiate Star League, League of Legends team Frost and Blaze, and their deep StarCraft 2 team including viOLet, Genius, NaDa, and others. CLG will be working closely with Azubu on several projects already deep in development and many others to come in the future in order to bring more frequent and higher quality content into the eSports consumer’s media sphere.

Azubu North America

In addition to their new partnership with CLG, Azubu has expanded west, and opened their new office in Santa Monica, California. The Azubu North America office will be led by Mark “Garvey” Candella serving as General Manager. From here Azubu NA will be working closely with their new North American partners to further their efforts to expand the growth of eSports globally.



http://clgaming.net/news/424-clg-partners-with-azubu



In other news; Azubu’s Blaze and Frost are not satisfied with their sponsorship, and are rumoured to have problems with them streaming through Azubu.tv. So both teams (as of february 4th) dissolve their connection with Azubu.

Still wanting to be present in the LoL scene Azubu picks up big Taiwan teams: the Taipei Snipers and the Taipei Assassins on (07/03/2013).

It seems Azubu spent little time without a couple of top tier League of Legends teams. This announcement comes quickly after the beta of Azubu.tv went live and is not a stretch to think that the Assassins and Snipers will be streaming there soon.





Summary Actual sponsorships



SC2 – Team Azubu



SC2 – Tournament Azubu Collegiate Starleague



LoL – Team Azubu Taipei Assassins



LoL – Team Azubu Taipei Snipers



Guild Wars 2 – Last Pride Azubu (retired sponsorship - need confirmation)



World of Tanks – Team Azubu



So after several main sponsorships and partnerships it is clear Azubu is throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the esport scene. They currently have 3 operating headquarters with Germany as a paper base, South-Korea and since recently also established a foothold in North-America with CLG’s staff.

For an organisation just a year old in the esport industry they seem to be very hungry to be known and remembered throwing their cash around. But if this was Sony, following a planned out business model with a known backing of their industry, no one would be doubting the cashflow. But what is Azubu? And how do they get their money? Well, after all the reading and collecting of information; I really have no idea. So there won’t be a summary of revenue assets at the bottom of this page.

But what is their business model? Apparently they like to be a big Esports company, but you can’t start from scratch right? Apparently you can just start with an investor or two.





Big North American professional gaming organisation“CounterLogic Gaming” announces on january 16th that they form a partnership with Azubu. It is supposed to be a extensive partnership with the organisation using the stream medium Azubu.tv and also setting up a North American branch of Azubu, complementing their locations in Germany and South-Korea. This was the statement following the partnership:In other news; Azubu’s Blaze and Frost are not satisfied with their sponsorship, and are rumoured to have problems with them streaming through Azubu.tv. So both teams (as of february 4th) dissolve their connection with Azubu.Still wanting to be present in the LoL scene Azubu picks up big Taiwan teams: theand theon (07/03/2013).It seems Azubu spent little time without a couple of top tier League of Legends teams. This announcement comes quickly after the beta of Azubu.tv went live and is not a stretch to think that the Assassins and Snipers will be streaming there soon.So after several main sponsorships and partnerships it is clear Azubu is throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the esport scene. They currently have 3 operating headquarters with Germany as a paper base, South-Korea and since recently also established a foothold in North-America with CLG’s staff.For an organisation just a year old in the esport industry they seem to be very hungry to be known and remembered throwing their cash around. But if this was Sony, following a planned out business model with a known backing of their industry, no one would be doubting the cashflow. But what is Azubu? And how do they get their money? Well, after all the reading and collecting of information; I really have no idea. So there won’t be a summary of revenue assets at the bottom of this page.But what is their business model? Apparently they like to be a big Esports company, but you can’t start from scratch right? Apparently you can just start with an investor or two. The Company Azubu



So how do I get to know a company? Simply whois the URL (azubu.com or azubu.tv). I figured to get enough information to make a topic, sadly this wasn’t the case. The Whois data simply showed that a registrant was situated in South-Korea. Woopty doo.

On the other hand.. This was kinda interesting, because everywhere I’ve read that Azubu was a German company. They even say so on their website and esport manager Mr. Kwon claims it to be. So we got the main website located to a company in South-Korea, not Germany:

So how do I get to know a company? Simply whois the URL (azubu.com or azubu.tv). I figured to get enough information to make a topic, sadly this wasn’t the case. The Whois data simply showed that a registrant was situated in South-Korea. Woopty doo.On the other hand.. This was kinda interesting, because everywhere I’ve read that Azubu was a German company. They even say so on their website and esport manager Mr. Kwon claims it to be. So we got the main website located to a company in South-Korea, not Germany: Address : #1101 Daerung post tower 182-4 guro3dong guro gu

Zipcode : 152847

Nation : KR

Tel : 82-2-1588-4259

Fax : 82-02-1588-4259

After that I jumped into the sourcecode of the website, there were more than enough references to the Korean language that led me to believe that the site itself was created in South-Korea.

After that I jumped into the sourcecode of the website, there were more than enough references to the Korean language that led me to believe that the site itself was created in South-Korea.



<!-- Live 버튼 비 활성화

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Some more information on the domain registration led me to new company name:

Some more information on the domain registration led me to new company name: Administrative, Technical, Billing Contact:

AZUBUKOREA CO., LTD.

Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

(Tel) 02-546-0655 (fax) 02-546-0656

Azubu Korea CO. This was to be expected; they claim to have a sister company in South-Korea. It would be weird if that one was called AZUBU EUROPE AG. (AG meaning Aktiengesellschaft, German). But this is the main name of the company..

With a couple of dedicated googlesearches I wound up on a German website. Namely this one:

http://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Navigation/EN/Invest/Service/Publications/markets-germany,did=692538.html

It is a German website wit hits focal point on Trading & Investing. The article self is about a Korean named [b] Silverio I Park. A Korean in Germany. Ok we got the German-Korean connection finally solved. The article further goes in detail about Mr. Park founding Azubu with another investor (identity unknown) and that they had chosen Berlin as their company headquarter. He goes on about that they have a studio in South-Korea with game developers (can’t say I know an Azubu game..), and that the Berlin office mainly focuses on PR, Marketing, game publishing etc..



Mr. Silverio Park

At this point im really starting to get curious about the businessmodel of Azubu, maybe this is a company that develops lots of games and publishes them in countries where I don’t know the brand, or have online casino’s.. Something that would explain the money that they are pumping into the esport industry would be nice to find.

Even the reporter writing the article asks what AZUBU actually does, and Mr. Park uses an analogy. So none the wiser we continued the information hunt, I finally got a big name to tag along my searches.

The next best search (silverio azubu) also led me back to the GTAI website, with a presentation about why AZUBU had chosen Berlin as their headquarters.

The presentation can be read here:



Mr. Park, or Silverio, also has a dedicated website namely

Not getting any further on domain searches alone I googled, reddited(..), and looked for info on Team liquid. Apparently I wasn’t the only one trying to find information about this company and its sudden appearance.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=17948538

This post (Proseat) was a great catapult, TL users combining their knowledge led to different media and resources. Comparable Reddit posts found the same. Bits of information, some even about a German investor called Lars Windhorst who some claimed to be the CEO. Lars, who has been found guilty on several accounts of fraude. I can’t get this piece of information or the link to Lars Windhorst confirmed but thats an ongoing search..



User Shadow_Broker on reddit had this to say about Lars Windhorst:

Azubu Korea CO. This was to be expected; they claim to have a sister company in South-Korea. It would be weird if that one was called AZUBU EUROPE AG. (AG meaning Aktiengesellschaft, German). But this is the main name of the company..With a couple of dedicated googlesearches I wound up on a German website. Namely this one:It is a German website wit hits focal point on Trading & Investing. The article self is about a Korean named [b] Silverio I Park. A Korean in Germany. Ok we got the German-Korean connection finally solved. The article further goes in detail about Mr. Park founding Azubu with another investor (identity unknown) and that they had chosen Berlin as their company headquarter. He goes on about that they have a studio in South-Korea with game developers (can’t say I know an Azubu game..), and that the Berlin office mainly focuses on PR, Marketing, game publishing etc..At this point im really starting to get curious about the businessmodel of Azubu, maybe this is a company that develops lots of games and publishes them in countries where I don’t know the brand, or have online casino’s.. Something that would explain the money that they are pumping into the esport industry would be nice to find.Even the reporter writing the article asks what AZUBU actually does, and Mr. Park uses an analogy. So none the wiser we continued the information hunt, I finally got a big name to tag along my searches.The next best search (silverio azubu) also led me back to the GTAI website, with a presentation about why AZUBU had chosen Berlin as their headquarters.The presentation can be read here: http://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/EN/Meta/Events/Invest/2012/Reviews/Powerhouse/Downloads/presentation-delegation-visit-seoul-silverio-park.pdf Mr. Park, or Silverio, also has a dedicated website namely www.insung.de . Its mostly in Korean and google translate only could translate so much. But one thing is certain; Silverio is a businessman giving speeches, writing articles and getting quoted in some financial magazines. Another search led me to a powerpoint presentationNot getting any further on domain searches alone I googled, reddited(..), and looked for info on Team liquid. Apparently I wasn’t the only one trying to find information about this company and its sudden appearance.This post (Proseat) was a great catapult, TL users combining their knowledge led to different media and resources. Comparable Reddit posts found the same. Bits of information, some even about a German investor called Lars Windhorst who some claimed to be the CEO. Lars, who has been found guilty on several accounts of fraude. I can’t get this piece of information or the link to Lars Windhorst confirmed but thats an ongoing search..User Shadow_Broker on reddit had this to say about Lars Windhorst:

In terms of who they actually are their CEO is guy named Lars Windhorst, Chairman is Robert Hersov, when you look them up there isnt really any mention of azubu though they both did show up at OGN LoL Summer. There is also the father of Woong(Azubu Frost) who is supposed to be quite wealthy and backed MiG pre Azubu sponsorship and is now a large Azubu shareholder. The talk of money laundering and fraud surrounding Azubu probably relates to Lars Windhorst who has been accused of fraud and other charges. In terms of Lars and Roberts connection, Lars heads up Sapinda Deutschland GmbH which is owned by Robert Hersov. Overall there seems to be a lot of money backing Azubu though weather these plans or goals will pan out remains to be seen.



He names Lars Windhorst as CEO, and I’ve seen other naming him as CEO aswell. Though I cannot find a proper connection like with Silverio Park. Lars Windhorst DID attend the Champions Summer Finals with other AZUBU executives. Check the video at EDIT 3 at the bottom.

Lars seems to be a dead-end for AZUBU information.

Looking further I’ve found a website called AZUBUX.com and that translates to a product of AZUBU. Something I want to talk about more.







He names Lars Windhorst as CEO, and I’ve seen other naming him as CEO aswell. Though I cannot find a proper connection like with Silverio Park. Lars Windhorst DID attend the Champions Summer Finals with other AZUBU executives. Check the video at EDIT 3 at the bottom.Lars seems to be a dead-end for AZUBU information.Looking further I’ve found a website called AZUBUX.com and that translates to a product of AZUBU. Something I want to talk about more. Products of Azubu Top



While all I am getting are loose ends, except raw money deals on sponsorships.. The things eluding me are a business model, a concrete strategy, some kind of revenue, a clear goal. It all seems to be a venture capital with enough money and not a real obvious plan to get a return on their investment. This for a company founded in the winter of 2011.

So reading the interview with Kevin Kwon – esports manager, he talks about two products AZUBU virtual coins and something called Z-Talk. Somefurther investigating leads to the conclusion that the website Azubux.com is the virtual money product and Z-Talk can be found on.. Well there is only a Youtube instructional video left: While all I am getting are loose ends, except raw money deals on sponsorships.. The things eluding me are a business model, a concrete strategy, some kind of revenue, a clear goal. It all seems to be a venture capital with enough money and not a real obvious plan to get a return on their investment. This for a company founded in the winter of 2011.So reading the interview with Kevin Kwon – esports manager, he talks about two productsand something called. Somefurther investigating leads to the conclusion that the website Azubux.com is the virtual money product and Z-Talk can be found on.. Well there is only a Youtube instructional video left:





Posted 11-09-2012. And no trace was ever found of z-talk. Apperently you shouldn’t install it.



So we got 1 premium great product of out the way, whats the deal with the other? Azubux, the way to exchange virtual money? Azubux is registered in Korea, so maybe Asians do something with it, but I have not found a single source of people actually using the product nor referring to it. In the FAQ there are no questions, which means there are no frequently asked questions like “What the hell is this?”. Maybe its something for the future, but the mainsite; Azubu.com doesn’t even talk about it.

They do talk about what Azubu does, and offers. Z-Talk and Azubux aren’t among the offered services.

So what does Azubu do? Apparently throwing money into the scene and trying to get it back with the one product remaining:

Azubu.tv is their portal, and every partnership, sponsormessage or any other PR related bit of information is pointed towards this Url. So if I’m not mistaken, this should be the place where all the promotional money should be returned with interest.

The player itself isn’t Azubu btw. Its Brightcove. Brightcove is a video platform. They mention Azubu in their financial report: Posted 11-09-2012. And no trace was ever found of z-talk. Apperently you shouldn’t install it.So we got 1 premium great product of out the way, whats the deal with the other? Azubux, the way to exchange virtual money? Azubux is registered in Korea, so maybe Asians do something with it, but I have not found a single source of people actually using the product nor referring to it. In the FAQ there are no questions, which means there are no frequently asked questions like “What the hell is this?”. Maybe its something for the future, but the mainsite; Azubu.com doesn’t even talk about it.They do talk about what Azubu does, and offers. Z-Talk and Azubux aren’t among the offered services.So what does Azubu do? Apparently throwing money into the scene and trying to get it back with the one product remaining: www.Azubu.tv Azubu.tv is their portal, and every partnership, sponsormessage or any other PR related bit of information is pointed towards this Url. So if I’m not mistaken, this should be the place where all the promotional money should be returned with interest.The player itself isn’t Azubu btw. Its. Brightcove is a video platform. They mention Azubu in their financial report:

Brightcove Announces Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2012

January 31, 2013 / Brightcove Press Release

Added 172 volume customers and 52 premium customers. New customers added during the quarter include Allstate, Aflac, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Georgetown University, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Azubu.



So Azubu uses the brightcove player, on their Korean coded website, for the firm in Germany. I know, it doesn’t make much sense yet. But Azubu.tv, it could be profitable, depending on their viewership. So I went to Alexa:

Here I found some traffic related statistics and none of them seemed to be mindblowing, sure they get enough traffic but the viewership at this moment doesn’t offer a good way of getting their investment back. The country where Azubu is most popular is Taiwan (Taipei Assasins/snipers) and its at rank 1503. That means there are 1502 sites in Taiwan that are more popular.

But I hear you say, ok thats Taiwan. What about NA/Europe? Germany – rank 43.382. Not very popular there either, United states – 63.416. Well Rank only gives popularity, and we all know that esports isn’t the most talked about thing on the workfloor.







Compare it to Twitch.tv. And for your infomation: twitch is the red bar, azubu the blue one. But what you can see is that Azubu is growing in viewership. This should be expected thanks tot heir involvement and partnerships. But the website every marketing related stunt is referring to, Azubu.tv, its not sleek. Yes it works, and brightcove makes a good player. But it all feels and looks as if this isn’t their main means of making money. It looks as a bonus, twitch is throwing less sponsorship around but their site shows where the money went to.

So after all this, the question remains: what is the business model of Azubu? What are their goals and how do they intend to make money?

I ask this because, well I love companies spending insane amounts on Esports, but I am frightened if they pull out due to sloppy management, excessive activities and leave Teams without funding, and tournaments without a prizepool. Its not bad Azubu is here, but it could be bad when they pull out. So I’m wondering, if the money doesn’t come through azubu.tv, how long till they pull out?







So Azubu uses the brightcove player, on their Korean coded website, for the firm in Germany. I know, it doesn’t make much sense yet. But Azubu.tv, it could be profitable, depending on their viewership. So I went to Alexa: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/azubu.tv# Here I found some traffic related statistics and none of them seemed to be mindblowing, sure they get enough traffic but the viewership at this moment doesn’t offer a good way of getting their investment back. The country where Azubu is most popular is Taiwan (Taipei Assasins/snipers) and its at rank 1503. That means there are 1502 sites in Taiwan that are more popular.But I hear you say, ok thats Taiwan. What about NA/Europe? Germany – rank 43.382. Not very popular there either, United states – 63.416. Well Rank only gives popularity, and we all know that esports isn’t the most talked about thing on the workfloor.Compare it to Twitch.tv. And for your infomation: twitch is the red bar, azubu the blue one. But what you can see is that Azubu is growing in viewership. This should be expected thanks tot heir involvement and partnerships. But the website every marketing related stunt is referring to, Azubu.tv, its not sleek. Yes it works, and brightcove makes a good player. But it all feels and looks as if this isn’t their main means of making money. It looks as a bonus, twitch is throwing less sponsorship around but their site shows where the money went to.So after all this, the question remains: what is the business model of Azubu? What are their goals and how do they intend to make money?I ask this because, well I love companies spending insane amounts on Esports, but I am frightened if they pull out due to sloppy management, excessive activities and leave Teams without funding, and tournaments without a prizepool. Its not bad Azubu is here, but it could be bad when they pull out. So I’m wondering, if the money doesn’t come through azubu.tv, how long till they pull out? More questions Top



I hope everyone gets a better idea of this company, because I sure haven’t found any solid answers. Kevin Kwon talks about esports as a target for him throw money at and cheer when he hits the bullseye. Mister Park sees Esports as something to make money in, and apparently got the funding to build a esports company. But with former products as dodgy as Z-Talk, and Azubux the virtual money, and now the current means to succeed; Azubu.tv , I am still not reassured that they are here to stay. Apparently they got the funds to keep growing (NA HQ just opened), but who are the investors? And when do they want to see a return on investment before they choose other ways to spend their money? The speed by which they entered the scene can look slow when they leave the scene if investors pull the plug.

Im hoping for more information, because all I have found is hope, dreams no real strategy to achieve them. This is merely placed in the shadow of their (apparent) mountain of money, obscuring all views to potential criticasters. What if Team-liquid started sponsoring the GSL, giving out pricemoney? People would assume the site and the t-shirts were doing well.. But in Azubu’s case, what if there is only a twitch 0.5 with no buyable products?

And not to end on a Sex&the city note.. Im really hoping that this is all just the beginning, and the solid foundation comes forward through a poster on TL describing in a reply that they are king in Asia. If thats the case, then this topic has found its function.



And for everyone to remember, this company was founded in late 2011. Its only a year old.





I hope everyone gets a better idea of this company, because I sure haven’t found any solid answers. Kevin Kwon talks about esports as a target for him throw money at and cheer when he hits the bullseye. Mister Park sees Esports as something to make money in, and apparently got the funding to build a esports company. But with former products as dodgy as Z-Talk, and Azubux the virtual money, and now the current means to succeed; Azubu.tv , I am still not reassured that they are here to stay. Apparently they got the funds to keep growing (NA HQ just opened), but who are the investors? And when do they want to see a return on investment before they choose other ways to spend their money? The speed by which they entered the scene can look slow when they leave the scene if investors pull the plug.Im hoping for more information, because all I have found is hope, dreams no real strategy to achieve them. This is merely placed in the shadow of their (apparent) mountain of money, obscuring all views to potential criticasters. What if Team-liquid started sponsoring the GSL, giving out pricemoney? People would assume the site and the t-shirts were doing well.. But in Azubu’s case, what if there is only a twitch 0.5 with no buyable products?And not to end on a Sex&the city note.. Im really hoping that this is all just the beginning, and the solid foundation comes forward through a poster on TL describing in a reply that they are king in Asia. If thats the case, then this topic has found its function.And for everyone to remember, this company was founded in late 2011. Its only a year old. References Top



EDIT 4

Everywhere Sapinda keeps popping up as the company behind Azubu, Its an privately owned investment company co-founded by Lars Windhorst. Main finances for the company came from the South-African family of Hersov to start it up. Hersov is one of the few known shareholders.



Shadow_Broker's post pointed towards this interesting read in the Spiegel (German

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-87818605.html



Same Article with pictures in original German - thx Redox.

http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/image/show.html?did=87818605&aref=image052/2012/08/18/CO-SP-2012-034-0068-0071.PDF&thumb=false



EDIT 3.Video of the owners/executives of Azubu (Robert Hersov/Lars Windhorst) at the prize ceremony Everywhere Sapinda keeps popping up as the company behind Azubu, Its an privately owned investment company co-founded by Lars Windhorst. Main finances for the company came from the South-African family of Hersov to start it up. Hersov is one of the few known shareholders.Shadow_Broker's post pointed towards this interesting read in the Spiegel (GermanSame Article with pictures in original German - thx Redox..Video of the owners/executives of Azubu (Robert Hersov/Lars Windhorst) at the prize ceremony



EDIT 2. http://www.rntsmedia.com/img/ir/Listing Prospectus_ Dec_18.pdf

A prospectus of the RNTSmedia group. Page 42:

A prospectus of the RNTSmedia group. Page 42: Name: Mr. Heejoon Park

Position: Managing Director

Appointment date: 23 Febuary 2012 / date of incorporation

Other positions: Mr. Heejoon Park is also director of RNTS Media Co., Ltd. and is a

non-executive auditor of Bonding Korea Co., Ltd. and Azubu Korea

Co., Ltd.



The supervisory board of RNTS Media mentions Robert Hersov as first supervisor.



[EDIT After this piece went up I've gotten more information from multiple people pointing me towards the following article:



The supervisory board of RNTS Media mentions Robert Hersov as first supervisor.After this piece went up I've gotten more information from multiple people pointing me towards the following article: Written 2013, Feb 15th



Does anyone remember Lars Windhorst?

A self-made man already as teenager, he earned large attention when former German chancellor Helmut Kohl asked him to accompany him to an Asia trip because of his economical connections.

Today, on German forums there are stories from people meeting him at the Munich fair 2000, mocking him and describing how enthusiastic he was about some new computer product he would sell to senior people, and how he even had the "Koreans with the fat money" on board.



Anyway, in 2003 he made an affidavit, and in 2007 he reached private insolvency, leaving his creditors behind with over 60million in losses.

Since 2004 he's been investigated multiple times for fraud, failure to comply with insolvency terms, etc. Several charges have been dropped in 2009 after he promised to pay up EUR3.5m, then in 2010 he's been sentenced to 1 year on probation for embezzlement of EUR930.000 from Windhorst AG during 2002-2004.



He's been managing Sapinda International, a company owned by Robert Hersov. As well as Vatas Holding, owned by Hersov, too.

Vatas Holding owned over 8% of Balda AG shares at one point, Balda is a manufacturer of plastic materials and electronic parts. In 2008, Vatas was sentenced to pay EUR29m to Audley Capital, a British hegde fund. In 2009, German Bank NORD/LB sued Vatas for EUR150m, after they were supposedly ordered by Vatas to buy 13 million shares of Balda. Vatas filed for insolvency after this.

...

...

Snippet.

Full article at Source:



Now why is this interesting? SYSK LTD mentioned in the article is also mentioned as the (previous) owner of Azubu, according to



Full article at Source: http://pastebin.com/hp52ZfX8 Now why is this interesting? SYSK LTD mentioned in the article is also mentioned as the (previous) owner of Azubu, according to http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=17946202 https://www.bundesanzeiger.de/ebanzwww/wexsservlet





Click on: »Bekanntmachung gemäß § 20 Abs. 6 AktG



Die SYSK Limited, Road Town, hat uns im Juli 2012 gemäß § 20 Abs. 5 AktG mitgeteilt, dass ihr keine Mehrheitsbeteiligung oder Beteiligung gemäß § 20 Abs. 1, 3 oder 4 AktG mehr an unserer Gesellschaft gehört.



Die AZUBU Europe Limited, Road Town, hat uns im Juli 2012 gemäß nach § 20 Abs. 1 und 4 AktG mitgeteilt, dass ihr eine Mehrheitsbeteiligung an unserer Gesellschaft gehört.





Means that they used to be owned by SYSK LIMITED in Road Town(virgin island) and are now owned by AZUBU Europe Limited also in Road Town



Website lookup of Azubu.tv http://www.websitelooker.com/search.php?site=azubu.com

http://whois.domaintools.com/azubu.com



http://whois.domaintools.com/azubu.com The Virtual money product Azubux http://azubux.com/en/sub02_01.jsp



The Azubu Headquarters – Germany maps.google.nl/maps?q=Friedrichstrasse+95+Berlin,+10117+Duitsland&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x47a851c325403991:0x4ad566db10bc3e4b,Friedrichstraße+95,+D-10117+Berlin,+Duitsland&gl=nl&ei=iR1cUbXTJOSV0AXu24HgDQ&ved=0CDIQ8gEwAA



Why Berlin as HQ for azubu - http://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Content/EN/Meta/Events/Invest/2012/Reviews/Powerhouse/Downloads/presentation-delegation-visit-seoul-silverio-park.pdf



Silverio Park Twitter - https://twitter.com/silviopa



Silverio Park article about gaming industry http://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Navigation/EN/Invest/Service/Publications/markets-germany,did=692538.html



Proseats TL post with more business information - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=17948538



Alexa Traffic rank of Azubu - http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/azubu.tv#



Brightcove financial report mentioning Azubu client - http://www.brightcove.com/es/company/press/brightcove-announces-financial-results-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2012



Interview with Kevin Kwon esport manager - http://www.mobafire.com/esports/news/interview-with-kevin-kwon-azubus-global-esports-manager-90



Z-Talk product video - + Show Spoiler + http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEwr_4wQpNk 월요 날 재미있