A 23-Year Old Got His Esports Team Backed By Billionaires

Video-games and young millennials have the strongest bond in this era. Video-Game events and competitions have been around since the 70s. The only difference now is that young millennials are not more into watching traditional sports like football and basketball, but they are glued more to the gaming consoles and computers.

Big gaming companies like Activision always look forward to reaping benefits out of live gaming events. Based in Santa Monica, California, Activision has raised around $240 million selling franchises for the Overwatch League. Last week, Riot Games, part of Chinese tech-giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has announced 10 franchises for its newly revamped League of Legends Championship Series. Prices started at $10 million.

Noah Whinston, a 23-year-old school dropout and the CEO of The Immortals esports organization has raised tens of millions of dollars, from giant investors like the former junk bond king, Mike Milken and billionaire Phil Anschutz’s AEG, to make his place among the first ever team owners in an all-new international video-game league. The young CEO, Noah has finally made the announcement that its Overwatch League franchise will be called the Los Angeles Valiant. The Los Angeles Valiant will be one of the 12 organizations taking part in the league and will start competing next month in the inaugural year of Activision Blizzard Inc.’s Overwatch League. Noah and his investors paid the video-game giant, Activision $20 million for their franchise rights and he is now all set to hit the ground floor of what could be the next big professional sport.

The CEO’s father Michael Whinston, who teaches Economics at the MIT, was not at all happy about Noah dropping out of school. But, the senior Whinston now feels that his son was right. “I’m an economist, and Noah has passed the market test,” said Michael Whinston.