Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi’s clothing brand The Messi Store made its U.S. market debut on Friday, with the stock jumping greater than 200%.
MGO Global Inc. (MGOL), the operator of The Messi Store, Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi’s clothing brand, sold just 1.5 million shares to the general public, though trading was halted multiple times in the course of the morning session as investors flocked to Messi’s brand.
The corporate opened trading on Friday in a $7.5 million initial public offering priced at $5.00. Based out of Florida, MGO was founded in 2018 and commenced The Messi brand a yr later.
Ginny Hilfiger, the youngest sibling of dressmaker Tommy Hilfiger, co-founded MGO Global. The brand is centered on “leveraging” fame into potential retail opportunities.
“We’re a performance-driven lifestyle brand portfolio company focused on strategically leveraging the celebrity, celebrity power and global social media influence of world-class athletes, entertainers, and other cultural icons to create fresh, modern, and compelling product and apparel brands aligned with and inspired by the values, personal styles, and aspirations of our valued brand partners,” the corporate wrote on its investor relations page.
Messi’s name has likely had an impact on the stock. The 35-year-old led Argentina to its first World Cup victory in 36 years lower than a month ago and picked up Golden Ball honors, awarded to the tournament’s best player.
Popularity surrounding Messi has intensified since then. Messi’s Adidas (ADDYY) Argentina jersey sold out and his Instagram post holding up the FIFA World Cup Trophy is now Instagram’s most-liked post ever with greater than 74.7 million likes.
Nevertheless, it’s unclear if Messi’s popularity can assist the corporate financially rebound. MGO reported declining yearly revenues for the primary three quarters of 2022 in its S-1 Filing. After posting revenue of $557,641 in the primary nine months of 2021, revenues fell to $336,103 for the primary nine months of 2022.
“There’s substantial doubt regarding our ability to proceed as an ongoing concern in consequence of our historical recurring losses and negative money flows from operations, in addition to our dependence on private equity and financings,” the corporate conceded when addressing risks in its filing.
Josh is a reporter and producer for Yahoo Finance.
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