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There is a very good reason why AEG decided to get paid in cash rather than cryptocurrency for the naming rights of the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Cash will still be in circulation five years from now.
Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com is forking over more than $700M in cold cash to AEG, owner and operator of the arena, for the right to slap its name on the home of the Lakers, Clippers basketball and Kings hockey teams.
In announcing the deal, Crypto.com chief Kris Marszalek said a few years from now people will look back at this day and think this is the moment that cryptocurrencies kind of crossed the cosmos into the mainstream.
Alternatively, people may look back at this day and the amount of cryptocurrency hype and marvel at Crypto.com’s hubris in putting its moniker on the world’s second-most-famous arena.
Crypto.com may suffer the same “stadium curse” that afflicted another once-hyped company, CMGI, which was the darling of the dot.com era.
Andover, MA-headquartered CMGI created or invested in more than 70 companies and generated more than $1.5B in revenues at its peak. Its portfolio included AltaVista, Lycos, Furniture.com. Snapfish and GeoCities.
In 2000, CMGI struck a naming rights deal for the home of the New England Patriots NFL team. It agreed to pay $7.6M a year for 15 years for the right to call the stadium CMGI Field.
In 2002, high-flying CMGI fell to Earth. CNN called it the “poster child for the failed dot.com era.”
Gillette took over naming rights in 2002 with a 15-year deal of its own.
AEG would be wise to keep the Staples signage and promotional materials in storage. They may come in handy some day, not in the very distant future.
Institutional investors say it’s tough to build trust in ESG progress, according to a special report of the Edelman Trust Barometer.
It found that 86 percent of US investors believe companies overstate or exaggerate ESG progress when disclosing results.
Seventy-two percent of investors globally doubt companies will achieve their commitments.
Nearly three in four investors (74 percent) say employee activism is indicative of a healthy workplace culture.
Edelman surveyed 700 institutional investors in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Middle East and Japan for the study.
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