SK Telecom made an announcement on Oct. 11 that it has officially established SK Telecom CS T1 Co., Ltd. (T1), which specializes in global e-sports, along with U.S. media and entertainment group Comcast.
The largest shareholder of the joint venture is SK Telecom, which holds about 55 percent of the shares. Comcast and U.S.-based fund Highland Capital invested a combined $41 million, making them the second and third largest shareholders.
Since SK Telecom and Comcast signed a strategic partnership that spans e-sports business at MWC 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, in February this year, they have been pushing for the establishment of a joint venture.
T1's global headquarters has been set up in Seoul, where it will be in charge of discovering new T1 businesses, running Asian clubs and producing professional contents. T1 West Branch in Los Angeles will be in charge of managing the North American club.
SK Telecom and Comcast are going to carry out business for e-sports markets around the world by utilizing network, OTT, 5G, and contents production capabilities owned by each company at the beginning of T1 establishment.
The e-sports team will be expanded from the previous three teams to 10 teams in a total of seven sports. In South Korea, six teams -- the League of Legends, PUBG (Battleground), Hearthstone, Dota 2, Fortnite and Apex Legend -- will be active, while four teams -- the Super Smash Brothers, Hearthstone, Fortnite and Apex Legend – will be operated in the U.S.
