Just a few short weeks ago, the world sat glued to the TV watching the World Cup. Even those who aren’t typically soccer fans (or football if you live anywhere but the U.S.) found themselves caught up in the hype of the global match. When Argentina took home the victory, fans everywhere went wild, spending exorbitant amounts of money on merch.

Among the World Cup superstars is Lionel Messi, whose jersey quickly sold out following the win. Some resellers are pricing the iconic blue and white shirt as high as $500. Hoping to ride the wave of success that Messi and his jersey are enjoying is the company managing his clothing and lifestyle brand, MGO Global. It was set to mark Nasdaq’s first initial public offering (IPO) of the year on Jan. 6. According to sources, that has since been changed to an expected Jan. 13 date.

MGO Global plans to price 1.5 million shares at $5 each and raise about $7.5 million at a $66 million market cap. Fittingly, it has selected MGOL as its stock ticker.

The company was co-founded in 2018 by Maximiliano Ojeda and Ginny Hilfiger (sister to famous fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger). Currently, Messi is listed as its only client. His involvement is simply being the face of the company — he is not a shareholder but receives 12% of sales.

While the sales of the Messi jersey indicate wild public love for the player, MGO is currently dependent not on the jersey sales, but rather Messi’s physical performance. The company doesn’t produce any athletic gear itself; adidas holds the sole rights to any Messi-themed footwear or jerseys at this time.

“While it is our intention to pursue growth and expansion of our brand portfolio in the future, we currently are not negotiating or have any probable agreements to add additional assets to the Messi Brand in our portfolio at this time,” MGO wrote in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as shared by the article on qz.com. “We have a history of operating losses and may continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We may not be able to generate sufficient net sales to achieve or maintain profitability.”

Superstar Athletes and Apparel

However, the obsession with the jersey indicates there might be something there. It’s hard to estimate the power of a superstar, but if we’ve learned anything from athletes like Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, and others, it’s that pairing high-profile athletes with clothing can garner success.

Of course, this is a different situation entirely, but as it stands today, Messi’s influence has never been stronger. His Instagram post celebrating Argentina’s victory became the most popular photo in the app’s history. It received more than 74 million likes. And of course, the jersey was part of it.

Credit: Instagram