PartyPoker Enters New Era
5th February, 2010
Anurag Dikshit founder of PartyGaming and PartyPoker is now no longer a shareholder of the company. He sold the remainder of his shares in PartyGaming parent company of one of the largest poker rooms in the world, PartyPoker.
Dikshit is one of the richest men in India, selling his last 38.8 shares at 270 pence per share through an accelerated book build to investors, which made up approx. 9.5% of the company. The total price of all the shares totaled around £105 million.
Dikshit’s spokesman, Shimon Cohen, commented, “It’s been a process over four years since he first withdrew from the board. And that’s now it.” He continued, “This is simply about moving on.”
In 2008, Dikshit pled guilty to illegal gambling activities in the US. He paid $300million in fines and will be sentenced in December. However, he seems to have come out of the situation as a martyr for the industry, as online poker certainly wouldn’t be what it is today which his early influence and taking the fall for thousands of others who have made a living from online poker.
Cohen also stated, “It’s brought its fair share of issues. We have the court hearing and sentencing still hanging over us. Anurag voluntarily went to America and pled guilty so that he could move on.”
Following the sale of Dikshit’s shares, PartyGaming shares fell about 7% on the London Stock Exchange.
Despite this being somewhat of an end of an era for the online poker company, PartyGaming as a corporation is moving forward to revitalize the power over online poker that they once had. They are realigning the company with Mike Sexton, voice of World Poker Tour, and purchasing the WPT was one strategic step of their plan. Additionally, they have also signed poker personalities Kara Scott and Tony G. in the hope to redefine the brand internationally as a fun and lively online gambling site that sees poker as a past time and not necessarily a career path.
By Jamie
