Disney invests a huge amount of money in DraftKings

By Kris Wouk Published April 6, 2015

disney fantasy sports draftkings best football sites header image copy — Image used with permission by copyright holder

In recent years, Disney has expanded well beyond the simple cartoons that formed the foundation of its empire, and the company has done quite well for itself as a result. Now, the entertainment powerhouse is banking heavily on fantasy sports.

The Walt Disney Company is said to be investing $250 million in fantasy sports website DraftKings, according to the Wall Street Journal. The deal, however, is less about the goings-on of the website itself than it is about advertising on Disney-owned ESPN.

Recommended Videos

In return for the investment, DraftKings will spend more than $500 million on ESPN advertisements in coming years. Competing websites like FanDuel will continue to be able to advertise on ESPN, but it seems that they will be operating at a significant disadvantage.

As the popularity of fantasy sports continues to rise, so too do the opportunities for making money on them, for fans and businesses alike. Both DraftKings and FanDuel differ from the standard fantasy sports leagues offered on Yahoo and Disney’s own ESPN in that customers can play for real cash.

DraftKings offers contests for various sporting events including Major League Baseball and the National Football League both daily and weekly. While the company claims this is 100 percent legal, it still skirts fairly close to online gambling, and is all the more notable considering Disney’s family-friendly image.

This seems to be part of an assertive new Disney strategy of buying up entertainment-related properties. Last year the company paid $500 million for YouTube multi-channel network Maker Studios, and while Marvel’s movies have been making the company a lot of money, the more recently acquired Lucasfilm could be set to make it even more.

The DraftKings deal may not make as much sense as these other deals, but one thing is clear: Disney can certainly afford to take the chance.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.