Snoop Dogg is known for being an entrepreneur, taking advantage of a variety of opportunities that have a chance to earn him some extra cash. He’s been interested in gaming in recent years, showing up in Call of Duty and signing with esports org-turned-lifestyle brand FaZe Clan as recently as last year. However, that seems to be over, as Snoop has left the financially beleaguered FaZe.
Snoop Dogg made news last year when Forbes reported that as part of his signing to the organization, FaZe gave him $1.9 million in stocks and a seat on the board. His son, wife, and manager were also set to receive $248,000 worth of stock either directly or through companies they controlled. With Faze’s recent financial issues, that’s definitely not gonna pay out.
FaZe had to cut its staff by 20 percent in the middle of February this year, with its stock largely falling for almost as long as it has been public. At the time of the Forbes article, five months after going public, FaZe shared substantial doubt it could survive when the stock price was at $2. It’s currently at $0.50.
This is largely due to a government filing that revealed that FaZe had defaulted on $74.1 million and 92 percent of its shareholders had chosen a cash payout when it went public, which drained an additional $159 million from the organization’s trust. All that to say, it’s unlikely that FaZe has the money to pay out Snoop Dogg, since by the company’s own estimates, it may not be able to run past November of this year.
The team also uses its celebrity members’ social media accounts to inflate its own follower counts, which will be severely affected when they remove Snoop Dogg’s fans from their own. Financially, it doesn’t seem like the company is doing that well, which is likely what caused Snoop to look for the door. However, as an actual esports organization, it’s been doing decently in the last two months.
Recent reporting for the organization has been positive, with FaZe signing NICKMERCS’ team in addition to their existing competitive Apex Legends squad and winning the CS:GO ESL Pro League a few weeks ago. However, it’s unclear if these victories will be enough to combat the negative impression of Snoop Dogg’s departure. It has also had to deal with recent call-outs from its own members like Rain and Teeqo.
Snoop Dogg has not made a public comment about leaving FaZe Clan outside of the official notice that he resigned on March 29, and that the resignation wasn’t the result of any disagreement between FaZe and the Doggfather.
