Are the Lakers’ new arena sponsors Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, already in trouble?
Less than a year after Crypto.com shelled out an estimated $700 million for the naming rights to the home venue for the Lakers, Clippers, Sparks and Kings in downtown Los Angeles, it appears that the company is facing a tenuous long-term future.
The locale had been named the Staples Center since its debut in 1999. Staples as a brand now is a mere shell of its former self, so a change in sponsorships did feel in retrospect like it was en route. The switch to the glitzy crypto fad felt a bit risky, which has now proved to be an accurate appraisal.
Asa Hiken of Ad Age reports that, thanks in part to some excessive spending to build brand awareness, Crypto.com reached an impressive tally of 50 million users right before the cryptocurrency market crashed and interest fizzled this past spring. Since then, the firm has “quietly downsized” or even tried to cancel several of its partnership deals. It has bailed on its previous arrangements with Angel City F.C., Twitch Rivals, and the UEFA Champions League.
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Crypto.com has reportedly lost 30-40% of its pre-crash workforce through layoffs and departures (but mostly layoffs), with sources telling Hiken that sum represents 2,000 employees.
For now, the Venue Formerly Known As Staples Center remains Crypto.com Arena. Just how long that moniker will hold is now anyone’s guess, with what has proven to be a volatile market potentially on the precipice of further collapse.
So how will Crypto.com respond to its cutbacks? Has the bubble fully burst, or is this moment merely a blip? With a lot of layoffs reportedly happening in and around its marketing department, will we be seeing more “We going to the league” ads with Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James talking to a creepy digital interpretation of his younger self?
We can only hope so, dear readers.