Soulja Boy’s $400 Million Bluff

Greg Shaun

5 years ago

Soulja Boy’s $400 million deal with World Poker Fund Holdings is worth a comparatively meager $1 million. (Image: rapbasement.com)

Soulja Boy and World Poker Fund Holdings (WPFH) recently cut a deal worth $400 million: or did they?

According to an article posted by Billboard.com on May 20, hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Soulja Boy recently signed a five-year endorsement deal with WPFH worth $400 million.

As news of the deal started to spread across the Internet, a shadow of doubt quickly emerged. In fact, as has been the case much of WPFH’s history to date, the terms of the deal were more than a little unclear.

Soulja Boy’s Stack Takes a Hit

When the company first hit the headlines back in 2015 it appeared as though Soulja Boy was one of its investors. However, according to the latest reports, he’s now an official ambassador of the poker company and will use his profile to boost its profile.

As for the deal itself, the latest evidence seems to suggest that the $400 million deal is worth around 400X less (around $1 million).

Matthew Bird, a publicist for WPFH, has suggested that the details communicated by Soulja Boy are the maximum amount the deal could be worth if the company’s financial projections come true.

“The deal is capped at $400 million, and it’s based on a forward-thinking valuation of the company. He’s young, he’s 25 years old. He got really excited, and he tweeted something he probably shouldn’t have tweeted. He was getting a lot of pressure from within the entertainment community, so he wanted to put a statement out,” Bird told Forbes.

In addition to Soulja Boy “jumping the gun,” there is also the issue of WPFH’s market valuation. According to Bloomberg, the company posted a $400,000 loss in 2015 and currently has a market cap of $365,000.

Although WPFH disputes this and says its market cap is closer to $52 million, it’s clear that neither valuation would make it capable of offering a $400 million endorsement deal.

WPFH WTF?

Regardless of the financials, Soulja Boy will now use his 15 million social media followers and reputation in the music industry to promote WPFH’s products. But what are those products you might ask?

A look at the company’s official site suggests that it has interests in four main areas:

Celebrityworld.com – a free play casino site where you can “hang out with your favorite celebrities.”

PokerTribe.com – The official online poker site of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma which recently went live with real money casino and poker games to non-US players.

RealDeck – A gaming company with live dealer technology that’s been in place since 2006.

InSkyCasino – Due to launch in Q1 of 2017, this site will reportedly offer real money casino gaming on international flights in excess of 2 hours in duration. The site will be backed by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

While it’s clear the company has a lot of potential irons in the fire, it appears to lack any real substance at this point and whether or not Soulja Boy can change that remains to be seen.

Soulja Boy’s Stack Takes a Hit

WPFH WTF?

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