When Fusion Esports Group acquired Astralis in late 2025, the historic Danish organization was facing a difficult road. Financial reports from 2024 showed a loss of over 31 million DKK (approximately 4.8 million USD). This was driven by the end of franchised leagues and a series of missed Majors.
For the new CEO Jonas Gundersen, the acquisition required immediate action. Gundersen is a figure who often sparks debate within the Counter-Strike community. During his five-year tenure at Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP), he was frequently criticized by fans who felt the team failed to reach its competitive potential despite high-profile roster moves. While his reputation for building championship-winning rosters is a point of contention, NIP took big steps outside of the servers during Gundersen’s reign.
In a recent interview on a Danish podcast with Ludvig Larsen, Gundersen discussed how he applied that business logic to turn Astralis around.
The fast track to ownership
The transition of power at Astralis happened at a remarkable pace. Gundersen revealed that the capital for the acquisition was secured in less than a week.
We raised the money in four days in total,” Gundersen explained. “We had a lot of commitments beforehand, of course, but finalizing the sales commitments, the whole purchase agreement, and all those things had to be done in four days. And we managed it.
Navigating the venture capital era
Gundersen views the recent financial struggles of various esports organizations as a necessary correction after what is often called the venture capital boom. Venture capital refers to the period when outside investment firms poured millions of dollars into esports teams. These investors expected the teams to grow at the same explosive rate as successful tech startups. Gundersen argues that the industry spent years trying to meet those unrealistic expectations.
It started with trying to make esports into something it isn’t,” Gundersen noted. “It was supposed to be 10x, 10x, 10x all the way. That was esports.
This era of venture capital pushed organizations to spend heavily to achieve growth metrics that did not reflect the actual market. When that outside investment eventually slowed down, only the teams that could transition to a traditional business model survived.
Treating esports as a media market
To achieve stability, Gundersen focused on the core revenue drivers of the industry. He stripped away the startup hype to treat Astralis strictly as a media and entertainment entity.
Fundamentally, it’s still very much sponsorship driven, which is one of the things that is uncomfortably difficult about the model, because sponsorships are hard to scale,” he said.
He went on to explain exactly how these sponsorships are valued in the current landscape.
Sponsorships are one-to-one equal to the CPM price. It’s a media market just like the Champions League or the NBA.
For context, CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, which is the standard price an advertiser pays for one thousand views or impressions. Gundersen pointed out that while these sponsorship values were artificially high during the venture capital era, the current market has stabilized at a more realistic level. He believes this transparency allows for a more sensible approach to building a brand.
A profitable turnaround
Despite his controversial status among fans regarding team performance, Gundersen’s focus on the bottom line has yielded quick results for Astralis.
We’ve already turned it around in six months to a profitable company, because the underlying mechanisms in the market are there, but you just have to call it for what it is,” Gundersen stated.
By moving away from the rapid growth mentality and focusing on the actual value of their media reach, Astralis has moved into the black. Gundersen remains optimistic about the organic growth of the game, noting that viewership and infrastructure are continuing to improve.
It is nice and slow what is happening right now,” he concluded. “Everything is growing. Players, viewership, prize money, the infrastructure, and legacy.
