@NewbieHK This is interesting.

And I wonder if it says as much about Sony's ambitions to build out its sports business (given the large and growing market opportunity we've spoken about before on this forum), as it does about the increasing competitive intensity in Sports Tech, as the market leaders bulk up and start increasingly competing with each other. i.e., did StatSports see a future for themselves, or was it time for the private equity owners to cash out?

Sony has been at this a while. It acquired Hawk-Eye from its UK founder back in 2011. Hawk-Eye was founded in 2001, and was trialed in tennis by the ATP and WTA in 2004-5 before its Grand Slam debut at the US Open in 2006, and then at Wimbledon in 2007. (I am a long-standing tennis fan, although about as good a player as I am an investor!!)

What Sony brought to the table was its advanced tech in sensors, networking, cloud, and they have built out the Hawk-Eye tech to include fully-automated line-calling and data capture. (There's no human in the loop anymore, although I suspect there is someone in the stands sitting at the HawkEye desk!)

Another move Sony made was acquiring Beyond Sports in late-2022. These guys focus on data visualisation and immersive content.

So adding StatsSports was an obvious extension.

I wonder if they ever tried to acqurte $CAT? I'm guessing they must have, but the SP has probably now sailed away out of reach.