Samsung supplies chips to top gaming companies, and now it’s pouring hundreds of billions into a push to dominate the industry. 

The Korean tech giant said Tuesday that it will invest $206 billion over the next three years, with a focus on chip manufacturing and biotech.

Last year, Samsung won a contract to manufacture chips for gaming company Nvidia. In June it announced it would be working with AMD to produce high-performance graphics chips, with gaming as a core use case. 

Earlier this month, the company said it would be upgrading the chips in its Galaxy Watch series, which includes the fitness-focused Galaxy Active line. Samsung creates wearables on a unified platform with Google.

• Samsung is in the process of selecting a U.S. location for a new $17 billion chip factory.
• The three-year investment plan will entail hiring around 40,000 people.
• Rival chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion in the next three years into extra chip capacity.

Samsung said Tuesday that it is planning on mergers and acquisitions to shore up its market position in the technology sector. The company has not made a major acquisition in four years.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more recent reports.

The NFL has made its position clear following multiple reports that the Bills could possibly leave Buffalo if a new stadium isn’t built. 

“We’re focused on keeping the Bills [in Buffalo] in a new stadium in a public, private partnership,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Owned by Kim and Terry Pegula, the Bills’ current stadium lease expires in 2023. As a result, the couple has been aggressive in finding a new home for the NFL franchise. 

• The Pegulas proposed $1.4 billion in total funding for a new stadium, according to The Associated Press.  
• Taxpayers will not be providing 100% of the funds for the project, but there would be “some form of a public/private partnership,” according to Ron Raccuia, the executive vice president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment.

If the Pegulas are unable to reach a deal, Austin, Texas, has been mentioned in reports as a potential destination for the Bills. 

Taxpayers have backed more than $200 million in renovations for Highmark Stadium, another Pegula property, since 2013. Highmark Health acquired naming rights for the venue in March.

Private equity isn’t just making its way into sports teams and leagues — it’s pushing into sports media.

TPG Capital-backed Footballco is buying Italian soccer media site CalcioMercato.com, bringing another media property under one of the largest media conglomerates in European soccer. Footballco is owned by TPG-subsidiary Integrated Media Company.

The deal is reportedly for more than $10 million.

• Footballco bought a majority stake in Goal.com, along with German and Dutch sports sites Spox and VoetbalZone, from DAZN in a $125 million deal in September 2020.
• Footballco’s various sites collectively have 400 million monthly users, led by Goal.com. 
• CalcioMercato.com adds another 12 million monthly visitors. 

Footballco CEO Juan Delgado told SportBusiness that the company intends to acquire more soccer media brands.

“Being backed by one of the biggest private equity shops on the planet gives us that luxury,” he said, mentioning Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East as potential target markets.

The company is targeting annual revenue of $100 million. 

TPG’s media investments include Univision, Spotify, and Creative Artists Agency. The firm has $96 billion in assets under management.

Micro betting is on the rise and appears primed to become more of a factor in the U.S. sports wagering market, which JPMorgan estimates will be worth $9.25 billion by 2025.

As the market grows, companies like Simplebet are gaining traction. 

Founded in 2018, the same year sports betting was legalized in the U.S., the tech company was one of the first to capitalize on micro betting, focusing on details of a game — for instance, who scores next — rather than the overall outcome.

• After completing a $15 million financing round earlier this year, Simplebet is now furthering its goal of “reimagining the way fans engage with live sports” through a multiyear deal with DraftKings. 
• Simplebet also currently has a yearlong deal with FanDuel.

PointsBet acquired B2B software company Banach for $43 million in March, spurred by an interest in adding in-play betting opportunities and algorithms to its platform.

“The trend in this industry, especially in the U.S., will be all around in-play betting,” PointsBet CEO Johnny Aitken told CNBC. “Within three years, our expectation is roughly 75% of bets will be in-play.”

Live wagering already accounts for 75% of all sports bets in the United Kingdom.

Editor’s note: DraftKings is an FOS partner.