Enhanced Group Shares Tumble After PED-Friendly Opener

The Enhanced Games left Wall Street largely disappointed after its inaugural event over Memorial Day weekend. Shares of its parent company, Enhanced Group Inc., fell nearly 45% to close at $2.96 on Tuesday.

Enhanced Group began trading on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month under the ticker ENHA after merging with a special purpose acquisition company. The transaction valued the business at $1.2 billion, and in the immediate aftermath, shares saw a 21% spike. Now, its market cap is less than $400 million.

A spokesperson for Enhanced Group declined to comment on the company’s share price.

The Olympics-style competition—which allows the use of FDA-approved, performance-enhancing drugs—debuted on Sunday at Resorts World Las Vegas. Both enhanced and clean athletes competed in swimming, weightlifting and track and field for prizes ranging from $20,000 for coming in seventh to $250,000 for topping a podium. A $1 million bonus was dangled to those who broke world records.

When Australian businessman Aron D’Souza unveiled his plans for the Enhanced Games in 2023, he said athletes would “obliterate all the world records” by “unlocking human potential.”

But contrary to the company’s bold claims, numerous world records didn’t fall on Sunday. In fact, only one did after Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev completed the 50-meter freestyle in 20.81 seconds, besting the 20.88-second mark Cameron McEvoy set in March. And that was even subject to dispute after viewers called into question the veracity of the time. The Enhanced Games dismissed the claim, calling it “completely unfounded internet drivel,” according to The Guardian. Either way, the record doesn’t actually count because of Gkolomeev’s PED use and his high-tech suit that is outlawed in the sport.

U.S. Olympic bronze medalist sprinter Fred Kerley, who said he was competing without PEDs, crowed that Usain Bolt’s record time of 9.58 seconds in the 100-meter dash would get “destroyed,” while predicting he would match the 9.81 seconds he ran to land on the podium in Paris two years ago. Kerley did win the sprint, albeit with a time of 9.97 seconds; the race had to be restarted four times because of false starts and untied shoes.

A spokesperson for Enhanced Group said the company was “delighted with the performance of the inaugural Games” and called it “a first step toward success.” They pointed to the 22 personal bests set by 14 athletes, including Megan Romano beating her 50-meter freestyle time from 13 years ago. In total, athletes earned $6.6 million at the competition.

Official viewership data has not yet been released for the Enhanced Games, though the spokesperson said that could come this week. The broadcast, which featured former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho and Braintree founder and controversial anti-aging evangelist Bryan Johnson, was available on the Roku sports channel in North America, and it was streamed across YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Rumble, Twitch and Kick. As of Tuesday, it had picked up slightly more than 900,000 views on YouTube.

The Enhanced Games plans to stage competitions annually, and it’s eyeing a similar time in 2027 to hold its next event; the company has a three-year deal with Resorts World.

Declining share price or not, a person familiar with the matter said the company continues to be optimistic about its future and ability to fundraise.

Enhanced Group isn’t solely in the business of staging athletic competitions. It also sells a collection of longevity and wellness products through its website and telehealth platform, including testosterone injections and peptides. The company’s largest shareholder is German biotech billionaire Christian Angermayer, who founded psychedelic drug startup Atai Life Sciences.

In the aftermath of its debut event, the Enhanced Group did boast about its success in sponsorships. On Tuesday, the company released a statement saying that it secured more than $32 million in “aggregate sponsorship deal value” ahead of the first meet, citing deals with Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU), Betr and Rumble (NASDAQ: RUM). It also noted that with seven months left in the year, it already had exceeded its sports revenue guidance of $31 million.

“We reset what this category is capable of,” Maximilian Martin, CEO of Enhanced Group, said in the release. “The $32 million we secured with our first event is not a ceiling. It is a starting point.”