Brands
Dream11 ditches betting for banter
MUMBAI: Dream11 is swapping cash contests for creator content. The fantasy sports platform, which once commanded a user base of over 250 million punters, is transforming itself into a global sports entertainment destination. Think less ‘pick your XI and pray’ and more ‘watch, chat, and play for free’.
The new offering centres on what the company calls a ‘second screen experience’. Translation? While you’re watching the match on telly, Dream11 wants you glued to your phone for creator-led watch-alongs, fan reactions, and what they’re rather brilliantly calling ‘banter streams’. Fantasy gaming hasn’t disappeared entirely, but it’s now strictly free to play.
This reinvention wasn’t exactly voluntary. A few months back, the Indian government pulled the plug on real money games for stakes, forcing Dream11 to shut down all its paid fantasy contests.
But Dream11’s parent company, Dream Sports, isn’t sitting around feeling sorry for itself. They’ve been diversifying like a hedge fund manager at a career fair. Their latest venture, Dream Money, is a personal finance app that lets users invest in digital gold, open fixed deposits, and track their spending by linking bank accounts. From fantasy cricket to actual finance. Who saw that coming?
Meanwhile, sister platform FanCode is closing its sports merchandise operation after battling wafer-thin margins and a flood of knock-off jerseys. They’re retreating to focus on content and streaming instead, which is probably wise. Selling authentic Premier League shirts in a market drowning in convincing fakes is rather like trying to sell ice to penguins.
The entire Dream Sports ecosystem is clearly in the midst of a major rethink. The days of relying solely on paid fantasy gaming are over, and the company’s throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
Whether sports fans will embrace watch-alongs and banter streams with the same enthusiasm they once had for fantasy leagues remains to be seen. But given the alternative was shutting up shop entirely, it’s certainly worth a punt.
Just not a paid one, obviously.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
