DraftKings Bucks Downward Trend with New HQ and New Hires

Daily fantasy sports giant DraftKings is bucking months of bad news about spiraling revenues and corporate layoffs with by moving into a shiny new corporate headquarters and hiring hundreds of new employees. The move is part of a larger effort to expand the company’s media production capabilities and, maybe, expand into the world of regulated sports betting.
The Boston-based company will be moving its corporate offices to a massive new facility located in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood and, at 105,000 square feet, will be more than twice as large as its current facility. A large portion of that extra space is earmarked to be used as a media production facility.
DraftKings’ employees who are hoping for more elbow room at the new facility might be disappointed to find that they’ll be sharing it with a whole bunch of new co-workers. The DFS shop is planning on hiring 275 new employees. Most of those new hires will be working on the media production side of the business.
So what’s behind Draftkings’ big moves after months of layoffs and revenue woes? According to speculation by credible sources such as Legal Sports Report and Calvinayre.com, DraftKings may be prepping for a move into the regulated sports betting world. With a decision on sports betting from the US Supreme Court slated for June, all that media production capability could be pointed at a shiny, new gaming market. (It’s not tough to picture DraftKings producing live game day segments like the kind that once dominated the Australian sports scene.)
Some in the gaming media are also speculating that the company’s new hires will be focusing on expanding international markets.
The company has not commented publicly on either suggestion.
DraftKings plans to be completely moved into its new facility by middle of 2019.