Toronto Ultra owners OverActive Media record $27.2m net loss for 2022

OverActive Media, whose esports properties include CDL franchise Toronto Ultra and Overwatch League team Toronto Defiant, recorded a net loss of CAD $36.9m (USD $27.2m) for the entirety of 2022.

The figure was announced in the company’s end-of-year financial results and represents an increase over the CAD $19.4 million (USD $14.29m) net loss recorded in 2021.

OverActive Media explained that the net loss figure includes “a non-cash impairment charge of [CAD] $34.2 million (USD $25.19m), while no impairment was recognized in the prior year.”

An impairment charge is an accounting entry that does not involve any cash outflow. It is a term used to account for an asset that is no longer as valuable as it may have once been.

“We have reviewed the carrying value of our intangible assets and reduced them to an amount that better represents fair value in the current environment,” Rikesh Shah, Chief Financial Officer at OverActive Media, said in a statement. “This has resulted in an impairment charge in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2022. These non-cash charges do not affect our continuing operations.”

OverActive Media noted that, at the end of 2022, it had cash and cash equivalents of CAD $13.6 million (USD $10.01m), a decrease from the CAD $29.6 million (USD $21.80m) it had available a year earlier.

The Canadian company also announced an adjusted EBITDA loss of CAD $8.8m (USD $6.48m), an increase over the CAD $7.0 million (USD $5.15m) for the full year of 2021 that was attributed to an investment in “team rosters, people, and products for future success.”

On the positive side, OverActive Media announced CAD $14.2 million (USD $10.45m) in total revenue for 2022, the same amount as in 2021. This includes a 23 percent increase in business operations revenue year-over-year to CAD $8.2 million (USD $6.04m), a figure that was offset “by a decline in team operations revenue, mainly a reduction in the prize money awarded to our competitive teams,” according to the financial results.

“As a co-founder of this company, I am pleased to say that the core aspects of our business thesis are coming to fruition,” said OverActive Media co-founder and interim CEO Adam Adamou, who replaced Chris Overholt at the helm of the organization in February. “Despite the economic downturn, we have grown our multi-year business operations revenue to record levels.

“Our esports journey is driven by fundamentals that we believe are in place, including our ability to grow our business operations and the support we’re seeing from our league partners. We’re invested in the future of esports and are confident in the quality of our team and the successful execution of our business plan.”

OverActive Media runs the Toronto Ultra franchise in the Call of Duty League and the Toronto Defiant team in the Overwatch League. It also operates MAD Lions, who compete in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC).

Earlier this year, MAD Lions re-entered Valorant with a men’s roster competing in the NA Challengers league. More recently, it signed an all-women’s Spanish team, MAD Lions Laurë, to compete in EMEA Game Changers.

OverActive Media added that it received franchise fee deferrals totaling almost CAD $10.1 million (USD $7.43m), with “payments pushed out between 12 to 24 months.” In 2022, independent reporter Jacob Wolf revealed that Activision Blizzard was still owed “between $390 and $420 million” in franchise fees from the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League after it deferred payments for two years because of the impact of the global health crisis.