Chess.com is set to take over the Play Magnus Group in an $82m merger between major chess organisations that will leave the US-backed chess.com as the dominant force in online events. PMG, which went public on the Oslo market in 2020, began with a flourish as a growth stock, but its revenues failed to grow at the hoped for rate, and its share price has halved from its peak.
It appears that PMG’s business model of providing high class commentaries for top tournaments on its chess24 website brought in too few subscribers, even though the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, was and still is a regular participant. PMG’s chessable learning site is its most successful area, whereas the chess24 playing zone has attracted far smaller numbers than chess.com or lichess.
