The news that the Smosh YouTube channel was bought back by the original duo, Anthony and Ian, took over the internet in June. Long time Smosh fans, fellow creators and new followers are all excited for the new chapter. Let’s dive into what this purchase means for Smosh and how Breeze was involved.
How did this happen?
In June 2023 the news broke about the Smosh acquisition with Anthony and Ian sharing their story with various news publications such as Variety and TechCrunch and did a full interview on Anthony’s channel explaining how the duo came back together. To give a quick run down, the Smosh channels were sold years ago, and due to creative differences, Anthony stepped away from the channel in 2017, which the channel initial sale was followed by another change in ownership to Mythical, Rhett & Link’s company. As you can imagine, over the past few years the Smosh channel has been on a bit of a rollercoaster. Fast forward to today, with the help of Breeze’s funding solution Anthony and Ian were able to come back together, while keeping full ownership and control of all their content/catalog, being able to prioritize their creative ideas and make and post their videos exactly how they want to.
What role did Breeze play?
The Smosh group of channels has over 25 million subscribers with videos regularly surpassing millions of views, and as you can imagine owning a channel of this magnitude doesn’t come cheap. While both Ian and Anthony are successful in their own right, making a large purchase like this one takes some strategic financial planning. So how does one go about getting cash for a purchase like this? While most traditional businesses can go to banks or can acquire a lump sum of cash through investors, these options may not be available to creators, or appealing depending on their stipulations.
If you’ve read some of the news articles you will see that Breeze was mentioned as financing the acquisition. Breeze had been in communication with Anthony and Ian, along with the Mythical team, for months to discuss funding options in order for them to secure the capital they needed to repurchase their channel. Rather than licensing content or even mortgaging a property, Breeze was able to offer unique and flexible funding around the Smosh YouTube channel and its revenue.
Breeze was able to offer funding designed for YouTube creators - a cash advance without any business or creative control or involvement in their channel.
Re-purchasing their channel meant they wanted to regain control and freedom to create what they wanted. Having other investors may have required selling off parts of their channel, restrictions when it came to creative vision or posting schedules.
What does this mean for Smosh?
Keep full ownership of their YouTube channel.
Anthony and Ian are back at the head of the business with majority ownership of their channel and business. They make the decisions without having to answer to investors or stakeholders.
Retain all rights and profits of back catalog videos.
With over a decade of content that they have uploaded to their channel they could have easily sold off pieces of their channel to get cash, but would have lost control and an unknown amount of revenue, especially considering the resurgence of views with the news of the Smosh duo back together.
Working with Breeze, Smosh has been able to retain all rights and profits from all their old videos and get funding for a fixed fee.
Have complete creative control.
As they are not taking on new investors or stakeholders there is no additional say in creative decisions. Anthony and Ian have full control to make the videos they want to make.
Freedom to set their own posting strategy.
Being in control of all aspects of the business means they have the freedom to choose how often and when to post. They can put their efforts into fewer high quality videos, or invest in posting plenty of short quick videos - the choice is up to them.
Breeze’s hands off funding gives YouTube creators the flexibility and freedom to own their channel and run it how they’d like, all while keeping the profits from the channel’s growth in the hands of the creator.
What does this mean for the Smosh audience?
As Anthony and Ian have put it - the old Smosh is back!
Q&A with the Smosh team:
Why did Anthony and Ian want funding?
When we decided to repurchase Smosh, we knew we wanted to do it right. That’s why we researched all of our options to ensure the company's stability, growth, and long-term success, which ultimately led us to finance our purchase through Breeze. This funding allowed us the opportunity to return as the rightful co-owners of Smosh and continue our mission of making people laugh at the incredible company we love so much.
What were some of the key factors they were looking for?
We knew that we wanted to maintain complete control over our company and its existing library, which we had worked so hard on over the years. We also knew that Breeze’s model provided significantly more capital up front without any personal guarantees, which is ultimately why we decided to finance through the company.
Why did they choose Breeze over other alternatives?
Breeze's offer was based on both new and library content which resulted in better terms than their competitors were offering. This flexibility allowed us more freedom and capital to better operate the business throughout the course of the deal and beyond.
Can you share any details about why or how this funding option worked out for Smosh?
This funding has not only allowed us to return as the majority owners of the company we love so much, but also to expand our ever growing verticals and new productions. We are more passionate than ever to create new content for our fans and continue the legacy we started over 18 years ago!
Watch Anthony and Ian's interview with Jon Youshae about buying back Smosh - here
Get in touch with us today and learn more about how you can use Breeze funding and how much cash your channel is eligible for!
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