ESPORTS giant 100 Thieves, valued at almost half a billion dollars (£400million), has admitted to taking up to 85% of players’ earnings on sponsorship deals.
Drama started when YouTuber Froste of The Mob accused the company that is co-owned by rapper Drake, of taking 95% of their sponsorship earnings.
The Mob. Froste is pictured sitting in the front.
The group claimed they were encouraged to move to Los Angeles, where they rented a $10k (£8.5k) a month house between the four of them.
Froste claims they did not earn enough to keep them out of debt, and sometimes skipped meals in order to afford rent.
However, Froste could not provide evidence to back up his claims.
Co-founder of 100 Thieves, Nadeshot, confirmed some of the accusations made by Froste, though disputed the accuracy of others, with evidence to back it up.
Nadeshot says the company did encourage The Mob to move to LA. However, it was the group that chose the pricey accommodation.
LA is where the company has its $50million (£45million) 100 Thieves Cash App Compound, where its content creators can access high-end streaming equipment.
100 Thieves paid each member $2,500 (£2.1k) a month, despite Froste claiming it was only $1,650 (£1.4k).
However, this difference can be explained by the exceptionally high tax rate of LA, which is almost twice the national average.
This means that the difference could be explained by what 100 Thieves paid compared to what The Mob took home.
Nadeshot admitted that 100 Thieves did take up to 85% for some sponsorship deals the group made, but also took as low as 35% in some cases.
He also claims that The Mob did not create the amount of content for YouTube that was outlined in their contract.
Other creators, such as Ludwig Ahgren and Charles “Cr1TiKaL” White Jr, have commented on the situation, saying the cut that 100 Thieves took was “predatory”.
Froste was 22 when he signed on to 100 Thieves, an age that Ludwig says makes them almost like “children”.
While Ludwig concedes that The Mob didn’t work “hard enough” with the opportunity, he also thinks the deal was “so f**king predatory. 85% of a brand deal going to the person who just finds the deal is absurd.”
Cr1TiKaL also believes that 100 Thieves is taking advantage of young people with its deals, and says that his company only takes up to 15% of brand deals, saying “35% is still outrageous.”
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
