FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 There's a lot of buzz today that Poker Stars is in the process of purchasing Full Tilt.The only information that I have are things that I've read online so I have no clue if it's true or not and if it is true what it means for players.Alexandre Dreyfus is the CEO of Chillipoker and he tweeted the following about 30 minutes agohttps://twitter.com/#!/alex_dreyfusAlexandre Dreyfus@alex_dreyfusPokerstars buys FullTilt for a consideration of $750m, including settlement with DOJ and full balances of players (330m). I'm impressed. Link to post Share on other sites
HighwayStar 8 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 From igamingfrance"Just spoken to Laurent Tapie re Stars-FTP buyout, no comment, he'll put out a release later today..."https://twitter.com/#!/igamingFrance/st...799423170150402A lot of news articles are just citing the thread developing in NVG on 2p2 which is exploding: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-...es-ftp-1197424/ Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 https://twitter.com/#!/igamingFranceigaming France@igamingFranceLaurent Tapie confirms deal is off for FTP buyout, insinuates external sabotage over DOJ negociations. More to follow... #pokerstars Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Brian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughFWIW, an FTP source at the highest level told me all along that when the time came, Tapie wouldn't write the check Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Brian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughIf the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summerBrian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughIt's hard to explain the level of corporate hatred btwn PS & FTP. PS w power/control over major FTP shareholders is their worst nightmare Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 http://www.gaming-awards.com/NEWS/archives/8374Statement from the Tapie GroupGroupe Bernard Tapie regrets to announce that, after seven months of intensive work, our efforts to obtain final approval of the United States Department of Justice of the agreement to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker have ended without success. Ultimately, the deal failed due to two major issues. The parties could not agree on a plan for repayment of ROW players. GBT proposed a plan that would have resulted in immediate reinstatement of all ROW player balances, with a right to withdraw those funds over time, based on the size of the player balance and the extent of the player’s playing activity on the re-launched site. All players would have been permitted complete withdrawal of their balances, regardless of whether they played on the site, by a date certain, and 94.9% of ROW players would have been fully repaid on day 1. DOJ ultimately insisted on full repayment with right of withdrawal within 90 days for all players– a surprise demand made in the 11th hour, after months of good-faith negotiations by GBT. The legal complications surrounding the deal – specifically, questions surrounding the legality of the forfeiture under non-US laws – also proved unresolvable. All of the key assets of the FTP companies reside outside of the United States. A non-US court well might regard the purported forfeiture as a “fraudulent transaction” and declare it invalid or deem the acquirer of the assets responsible for all of those creditor obligations. Given the $80 million purchase price, and the substantial amount of cash needed to relaunch FTP, those issues ultimately proved too substantial to overcome. GBT is very conscious of the hopes it has created – among FTP employees that they will retain their jobs, among FTP players that they will recover their balances, and among the entire poker community that the world’s finest poker platform will be relaunched and bring a needed added element of competition to a world market that today is fully dominated by a single operator. GBT cannot accept the end of those hopes. For that reason, unless a concrete and legally viable solution is found in the very coming days to save the employees and repay the players of FTP, we will move to our own plan of action. We understand from press reports that the DOJ may have entered into an agreement with PokerStars pursuant to which PokerStars will acquire the FTP assets. If accurate, we can only assume that PokerStars determined that it was willing to accept these legal and financial risks in order to resolve its own legal situation with DOJ. If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players, as their final and full repayment has always been our priority. We only regret that such a deal would signal further consolidation of a poker market already dominated by a single player – an outcome that may raise antitrust concerns and that, in the long run, is probably not good for players and for the whole online poker industry.” Link to post Share on other sites
FARGOpokerND 22 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseplease happen...daddy wants his money back before WSOP Link to post Share on other sites
SuitedAces21 2,722 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 does this mean anything towards u.s. players playing again? Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 does this mean anything towards u.s. players playing again?In the short term for Americans it would mean that they are likely to get their Full Tilt money back sooner rather than later. Link to post Share on other sites
Mercury69 3 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 "GBT is very conscious of the hopes it has created – among FTP employees that they will retain their jobs, among FTP players that they will recover their balances, and among the entire poker community that the world’s finest poker platform will be relaunched and bring a needed added element of competition to a world market that today is fully dominated by a single operator."Isn't this a little disingenuous? If GBT buys FT and already owns PS, where on earth is the "competition"? It would still be a single operator, but under two well known names. Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 "GBT is very conscious of the hopes it has created – among FTP employees that they will retain their jobs, among FTP players that they will recover their balances, and among the entire poker community that the world’s finest poker platform will be relaunched and bring a needed added element of competition to a world market that today is fully dominated by a single operator."Isn't this a little disingenuous? If GBT buys FT and already owns PS, where on earth is the "competition"? It would still be a single operator, but under two well known names.GBT doesn't own Poker Stars Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/corporate_bl...men-093438.htmlby Eric Hollreiser on April 24, 2012 12:39 PM We've had a lot of enquiries and there's lots of speculation on the forums, so I wanted to address the PokerStars chatter. As you know, PokerStars is in settlement discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice. As such settlement discussions are always confidential, we are unable to comment on rumors. As soon as we have information to share publicly we will do so.* * * *Eric Hollreiser is Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars Link to post Share on other sites
TrueAce13 18 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 LETS GOOOOOO Link to post Share on other sites
GOCUBSGO 77 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Seems like a step in the right direction for both Pokerstars and poker in the US as a whole. Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Brian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughI've been told GBT pushed & pushed DOJ for better terms over the past several months until DOJ reached its breaking point Link to post Share on other sites
Cruz 2 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 does this mean anything towards u.s. players playing again?This wouldn't have a direct effect on allowing PS in the US again but if PokerStars returns the money to Fulltilt players, PokerStars will achieve a respect in the poker world that no government regulated site could ever hope to achieve. That's got to count for something. Link to post Share on other sites
Balloon guy 158 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Brian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughI've been told GBT pushed & pushed DOJ for better terms over the past several months until DOJ reached its breaking pointPretty sure the DOJ doesn't have a 'breaking point' unless you mean the point where they just declare "National Security" and throw someone in Gitmo... Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 If this article's information is accurate it would have taken a lot of play and fresh deposits for players to get their Full Tilt balance from the new Full Tilt if the Tapie Group had have bought Tilt.The GBT Repayment Plan, Fact vs Fiction Link to post Share on other sites
Cruz 2 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 If this article's information is accurate it would have taken a lot of play and fresh deposits for players to get their Full Tilt balance from the new Full Tilt if the Tapie Group had have bought Tilt.The GBT Repayment Plan, Fact vs Fiction Wow. It looks like Tapie had planned on using some pretty shady means of repaying players. Their initial plan sounds like they were only going to repay much of the money in the form of rakeback. I don't think they ever had the intention or means of paying back all players. This latest turn of events, if true, is very fortunate for FT players. Link to post Share on other sites
grocery_mony 8 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Great news that hopefully everyone will get their money soon. Pokerstars is gonna come out of this looking like heros again and have a huge chunk of the market share. Cant see them doing this unless there is an agreement that if it is legalized in the US that they wont be shutout. Be cool if you could transfer money between sites in the matter of seconds. Link to post Share on other sites
QED 4 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Good to see GBT out of the picture, would have been very hard to have any trust with them. Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 Brian Balsbaugh@BalsbaughIn an industry full of intelligent people, Isai is playing chess and everyone else checkers. Smartest guy I know. Check Mate Link to post Share on other sites
CorvairShaggy 5 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 So, I was thinking about this, and trying to understand some more of the dynamics. Help me out here.1)Pre-Black Friday I could totally see this. #1 buying #2. Buy your biggest competitor, and have dominant market share. May tick some players off that hated PS and only played on FT, but if they were US Players, where else could they have gone? Basically no where. I understand that there were others Pre-BF, but game selection would have been terrible, just like it is now for US players. I don't play much anymore b/c I really don't want to wait 1 Hour + for a $5-$10 45 man SNG to load, let alone a waiting for a 180. Basically if you were a US player that was more than a every-once-in-a-while, you were going to be eating out of the PS pie.2)Post BF - PS loses a huge chunk of business (I would love to see the real numbers/percentages here), but still has dominant market share ROW to still keep chugging along. Their #1 competitor goes belly up, which had to make PS smile. For ROW players they still have other sites to play on, and a few bigger sites, but PS I would think still has excellent position and huge market share. Maybe someone outside the US could comment here, but I would guess PS is a hands down #1 site??. Someone comes along and is trying to reopen their #1 competition. If the GBT really had enough capitol to reopen, pay ROW players back, and try to compete with PS is anyones guess. Some insiders may know if the $$$ were strong enough to do that, or have them play some kind of games to try to churn up revenue. I still think PS probably was not too worried about this.3) US Market Share - WHEN (not IF IMO) poker becomes officially legalized, regulated, and structured properly, that would be a huge market for anyone (newcomers or established) to want to get. How many millions have been spent in the past on lobbyist, etc. trying to get this done Pre-BF? Now, PS is already good in bed with Uncle Sam, seeing how they repaid and settled very fast (lightning fast considering how slow the government usually takes) with Uncle Sam. Now if the acquisition of FT by PS goes thru the DOJ that fast (I understand there are still other issues, but the elephant in the room has to be the DOJ) and US Players get repaid just like the way PS repaid its US share, then PS would have to be snuggled up really well with Uncle Sam, but why??? I mean, what assets does FT still have left that are worth $330 million? The brand will always be tied to shadiness, and after 1 year + of being shutdown, any assets that were not seized have been liquidated by now. Personally I liked the software of FT better than PS (but PS game structures were better IMO), but if PS just wanted to buy another site, could they not have already bought a smaller established site with less headache than this? I mean, could they not sneak back in on the US market and buy a company that is already on Merge? If publicized then that would have brought some US players back online, but then would have really pissed the DOJ off, and could upset the already unstable balance of US online poker. But, if they were just in it for a few $$$, this would make more sense to me.Basically, what would be the point of a non-US business being a hero to US players/voters and helping the DOJ fix a mess, if not jockeying for position on what has to be an inevitable gold mine? What company in this day and time would spend $80 mil+ on giving to a group of people that could not give back to them? (Assuming US players are paid back). I am sure there is alot more to this than alot of people know, but to me it just seems like they are trying to win over the US by looking like (if all works out as hoped, then BEING) a huge positive ambassador for the legalization of online poker in US. This move would have to make some the skeptics that think online poker is nothing more than a shady scamming business start to think otherwise. A shady game that a business runs that actually protects its customers, and goes above and beyond to take care of its customers, not once but twice?? My stock portfolio and mutual funds wish US companies would have been that kind a few years ago, and they are supposedly regulated by the US already.Anyway, just my thoughts. I could be off-base here, but open for friendly discussion. Link to post Share on other sites
FCP Bob 1,320 Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 My response to CorvairShaggy1. Poker Stars is by far the dominant site and their business at the .com site is only down 13% compared to before Black Friday. If you add in the Italian and French sites they are probably larger than before Black Fridayhttp://www.pokerscout.com/news/weekly-traf...012&week=16http://www.pokerscout.com/2. This is just speculation on my part Poker Stars buying Full Tilt makes sense for both Stars and The DOJ- The Tapie group did not have the money to pay players back and the DOJ probably didn't want to risk selling to them and things going badly- Poker Stars has to write a big check at some point to settle with the DOJ so that they can move forward. With that big check they are both settling their legal issues and buying what could be their largest competitor. Full Tilt players are going to play with their balances so when you buy $1 Million is player's liability your true cost isn't $1 Million as you will get increased business from those players even if they already have a Stars account.- As a straight business deal buying Tilt for a lot of money doesn't make a lot of sense but when you combine a DOJ settlement with gaining control of a very large potential competitor it does and the DOJ gets their win without having to piss off players who have balances at Tilt. Link to post Share on other sites
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