OWL Ventures

OWL Ventures, Ltd. (simply known as OWL) is an privately held Canadian holding company and venture firm.

Founded originally as the holding company for the Battersea Group, an British-American media and entertainment company purchased by OWL in 2008 which would remain the company's sole asset for the first few years of OWL's incorporation, OWL would expand, following the Styhon-Battersea merger, which saw the company invest in new businesses.

The company is based at the OWL Ventures Centre (formerly the Rogers Building) in Toronto, with secondary headquarters located at the OWL Ventures Campus in Brampton, eventually gaining third headquarters in Tokyo Shiodome Building in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, after merging with SoftBank Group. It is owned by and acts as the personal holding and investment company for American-British-Canadian media and entertainment executive Oliver Watson, which the company is named after, Oliver Watson Limited.

Among its assets include American entertainment company MGM Entertainment (formerly OWL Entertainment Studios), OWL Media, which operates Canadian media company City Media (formerly Global Media), and a 6% stake in Styhon Battersea, Hoot (formerly OWL Telecom), a worldwide telecommunications company formed from the purchase of Vodafone Ireland and Telenor Bulgaria, and Watson Sports+ Experiences (formerly OWL Experiences), which owns a 75% stake in Canadian professional sports company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, theme park operator and resort company Daydream Parks and Resorts, and live entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment.

History
Born in the US in the summer of 1990, Oliver took a liking to the media and later, the entertainment industry, as a kid. This interest later led Watson to form his holding company, Oliver Watson Limited in 2008, following his purchase of the near bankrupt British-American media and entertainment company, the Battersea Group, which before its merger with Styhon Entertainment, was the only asset owned by OWL. Watson served as the company's head throughout its existence.

Later on, Oliver felt the need to expand his own business, something he felt Battersea didn't allow him to do. Following Oliver Watson Limited's reincorporation as OWL Ventures in 2012, He would meet Finnish businessperson Kasperi Salovaara, who recently purchased Styhon Entertainment, and who also worked in the music industry, via the ownership of Zoop Music Entertainment. Oliver and Kasperi became friends and business partner, and they began to discuss business, and merger opportunities for their respective companies, which would later occur with the Styhon-Battersea merger.

Shortly after the merger, OWL transitioned into a venture firm and would move to Canada, where Watson pursued and got a citizenship, in the same manner he received a citizenship from the UK, thanks to the billions OWL received and would invest in from the merger. As such, Watson would own a 6% stake in the newly merged Styhon Battersea. Watson's position at SB would later be limited to an top advisory role, in order to devote more time and efforts into OWL, while Kasperi would later join OWL's management team, and became a vital part of the company, by co-spearheading many of the company's moves into different businesses and industries with Watson. OWL would also invest in and back Kasperi's own venture firm, Vuori. Oliver later gained a executive position at Vuori.

At first, observers were keen to call out and even Watson himself later admitted that OWL's new position in the market was seemingly to indirectly "pick up the leftovers of companies Styhon Battersea (a sister company to OWL) couldn't acquire", with one such example being OWL's purchase of Vodafone Ireland and Telenor Bulgaria, in which both companies would form OWL Telecom, later Hoot. However, OWL would soon explode in growth, entering new fields, such as health, technology, and reentering the media and entertainment industries.

Soon, OWL, Access Industries and SoftBank Group announced to merge, with Masayoshi Son becoming a minor stakeholder in OWL. After much debate, European Union, Japanese and American regulatories approved the merger between the two companies, under the condition that their stake in T-Mobile US was sold off. This follows OWL's acquisitions of Legendary Entertainment, MGM, Verizon, ErosSTX, Skydance/Annapurna and Orange SA.

Corporate affairs
The company is owned by Oliver Watson, he is the founder, president and CEO of the company. Kasperi Salovaara of Vuori also holds a executive position in the company. They both operate Styhon Battersea from OWL's Toronto Headquarters.

Corporate culture
Kasperi Salovaara and Oliver Watson run their Twitter accounts, under usernames @kaspsalovaara and @OliverWatsonOWL respectively. Their Twitter interactions sometimes consist of arguments in a joking manner.

Assets
See: List of assets owned by OWL Ventures.