The company that once dominated the high-stakes pool business of the American high-school circuit is shutting down.
TNT Billiards will cease operations after 10 years, and the company has announced that it is leaving its corporate offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is moving its headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee.
“It’s very sad to say goodbye to our employees and the TNT Billiard team.
It was a wonderful ride that we shared over many years and we enjoyed the opportunities that we had in our careers and the tremendous support we received from our fans,” TNT Billis’ founder, Jim McKeown, said in a statement.
The company, which launched in 1998 and is based in North Carolina but now has branches in Las Vegas and Atlanta, is a major force in the pool business in the United States.
TNT was founded by three former players who had all started their careers in the high school game, and it has been a mainstay in the US high school pool business for more than a decade.
In 2017, TNT Billicasts reached a licensing deal with TNA, a wrestling promotion that was founded in the early 1990s and is run by former WWE wrestler Kevin Owens.
The deal was worth more than $200 million, and was expected to be worth about $200m in 2018.
The agreement was worth an estimated $1.7bn to the company.
TNT is a global business that makes a huge amount of money from its licensing deals, and some of its biggest stars, such as Daniel Bryan, are also based in the UK.
But in 2018, the company faced financial troubles and had to sell its entire licensing deal to an investment firm led by the legendary investor Robert Cringely.
The sale closed last month, and TNT Billiacasts will cease to exist.
In a statement, TNT said it would begin to focus on its core businesses, including its licensing and publishing businesses.
It also announced a $5m dividend.