Information regarding one of Steve Bannon‘s unusual business decisions is doing the rounds online, with it having been revealed that he once funneled $60 million into a company that sold virtual goods in World of Warcraft.
In an old article recently unearthed by WIRED, it was revealed that before Bannon took over as the CEO of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he once used a reported $60 million of financial company Goldman Sachs’ money to invest in Internet Gaming Entertainment. IGE is a company that trades virtual currency and accounts in MMOs, specifically Blizzard’s hugely popular World of Warcraft. Bannon convinced Goldman Sachs to allow him to pile the extortionate amount of money into IGE in 2006, before the company was hit by a major lawsuit in 2007. The article reads:
“Goldman Sachs started making visits, inspecting the Asian operations and talking with Bannon and others about terms. Finally, on February 7, 2006, the deal was inked: Goldman Sachs, together with a consortium of private funds, made a reported $60 million investment in the company. Part of the money was used to buy Pierce, Salyer, and IGE’s general counsel, Randy Maslow, out of some of their stock in the company. Pierce walked away with $20 million and still retained the controlling share of a company that was doing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in sales a year. “
The lawsuit that eventually crippled IGE was filed by long-time WoW player Antonio Hernandez, who stated that IGE had made a”calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft.”
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Gold farming, a practice in which players accumulate massive amounts of in-game currency to the point where it can be sold for real cash, had dramatically diminished the enjoyment many got out of the MMO, leading to Hernandez suing the company on behalf of all WoW players. Hernandez and IGE eventually settled the lawsuit, with IGE confirming that it “would not engage in the selling of WoW virtual property or currency” for five years. The company nosedived after this decision was made.
Following the lawsuit, IGE was placed under control of the parent company Affinity Media, with Bannon becoming its CEO. After leaving the role, he became the executive chairman of Breitbart, a media company that Bannon described as “the platform for the alt-right.” Bannon took a leave of absence in order to oversee Trump’s presidential campaign, with him resigning from Breitbart after the election.
