100 Thieves could’ve acquired TenZ for $2 million in 2021, says Cloud9 CEO

100 Thieves had the opportunity to purchase VALORANT player TenZ from Cloud9 last May, C9 CEO Jack Etienne told Dot Esports.

In February 2021, C9 asked for around $3 million for the superstar VALORANT player before lowering the price to $2 million. 100 Thieves offered around $1 million for TenZ but this was refused by C9.

TenZ was later transferred to Sentinels in June 2021 for around $1.25 to $1.5 million. The price was lowered for Sentinels because TenZ wanted to play with the players on Sentinels’ starting lineup, Etienne told Dot Esports. At this time, TenZ had completed a short loan with Sentinels.

Discussion surrounding the buyout of TenZ began earlier this month after 100 Thieves CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag said in a now-deleted clip that TenZ’s buyout was “the most egregious thing that I’ve ever came across in esports history.”

“It was an unfathomable number,” he said. “It was higher than any buyout I’ve ever experienced in League of Legends, and that is saying something. There’s nothing else I can tell you besides that.”

While TenZ’s buyout was a large sum, it is not the highest buyout known publicly in esports. League superstar Perkz was acquired for around $4 million by C9 from G2 Esports in late 2020, as first reported by journalist Jacob Wolf.

In April 2021, 100 Thieves acquired mid laner Abbedagge from German organization Schalke 04 for over $1 million, according to Bild.

Nadeshot did not respond to Dot Esports’ request for comment.

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