Party Acquires Empire

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Party Poker Acquires Empire Poker 02/14/06

In October, Party Poker broke away from its former network partners, including Empire Poker. While Party still used the same software as its former network partners, they no longer shared the same tables.

Soon afterwards, most of the former network partners either moved to a new network or were acquired by Party Poker. The one exception was Empire Poker, which was now a stand-alone poker room, though it used the same software as Party Poker.

In December, Empire sued Party Gaming, the company that owns Party Poker, over its decision to divorce itself from its former network partners. The matter has now been resolved out of court. Party Gaming has agreed to buy Empire Poker for 250 million dollars.

It is not clear what Party Poker will do with Empire Poker. Most likely, the two platforms will be reunited again under the Party Poker brand.

[Etaipo]

omg, if my bakerack stays alive on empire, then this will be a happy day.

[Prevaricator]

[ QUOTE ]
omg, if my bakerack stays alive on empire, then this will be a happy day.

[/ QUOTE ]

[TStoneMBD]

im surprised they bought empire before the bill to illegalize online gambling goes through congress. noone seems to be worried about the bill being passed though it seems.

do i have my facts straight?

[Kneel B4 Zod]

[ QUOTE ]
im surprised they bought empire before the bill to illegalize online gambling goes through congress. noone seems to be worried about the bill being passed though it seems.

do i have my facts straight?

[/ QUOTE ]

2 different issues. the bill may or may not ever be passed...Party isn't going to let that stop them from doing what they think improves their business.

[TStoneMBD]

if the bill passes then the stock of empire is going to collapse making party's investment a losing one. it therefore wouldnt hurt party to wait on buying empire until after the bill goes through, but i assume that the chance that the bill passes already reduced the price of empire so it doesnt matter. ie, if there was no bill empire's stock would be 260mill, but since there is a bill it drops to 250mill. if they wait until the bill to go through the stock would go back up to 260.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

[ QUOTE ]
omg, if my bakerack stays alive on empire, then this will be a happy day.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's gone. see the thread in affiliates/rakeback.

[mmcd]

[ QUOTE ]
im surprised they bought empire before the bill to illegalize online gambling goes through congress. noone seems to be worried about the bill being passed though it seems.

do i have my facts straight?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure one of those nimrod holyrollers has introduced a similar bill everytime Congress has been in session for the past 5 years or so.

[Vincent]

Was Party's motivation to buy Empire solely due to this lawsuit? $250M is a nice deal for Empire, but how does owning Empire benefit Party? Does Empire have enough clients to make up this money?

[Kneel B4 Zod]

[ QUOTE ]
Was Party's motivation to buy Empire solely due to this lawsuit?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure it factored into it

[ QUOTE ]
$250M is a nice deal for Empire

[/ QUOTE ]
not easy to say what a fair valuation is

[ QUOTE ]
but how does owning Empire benefit Party?

[/ QUOTE ]
they get to keep all the revenue from Empire's players. they get to avoid a potentially damaging lawsuit. they gain complete control over their network.

[Publos Nemesis]

press release (http://www.partygaming.com/images/docs/Acquisition_from_Empire_Online.pdf)

[Etaipo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
omg, if my bakerack stays alive on empire, then this will be a happy day.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's gone. see the thread in affiliates/rakeback.

[/ QUOTE ]

CURSES

[mlin]

So will Empire and Party tables be shared again?

[g3rkshz]

[ QUOTE ]
So will Empire and Party tables be shared again?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, i'd like to know too.