Full tilt players to be paid in full?

[tikay]

Another twist, if true. Amazing stuff.

Guess it would give them access to the Rush Poker software, which in itself would finance the deal, even though they have the less mature but very good ZOOM already. 

[smashedagain]

Would this deal get through the monopolies and mergers commission? Probably have no authority and the US government make their own rules up anyway.

[marcro]

This makes sense if it makes PokerStars whole with the DoJ, clears all of their legal issues and paves the way to reenter the US market some time in the future.

[TightEnd]

Another twist, if true. Amazing stuff.

Guess it would give them access to the Rush Poker software, which in itself would finance the deal, even though they have the less mature but very good ZOOM already. 

Presumably a monopoly type situation in the US and DOJ Deal is on its own worth many times more than $750m to Stars?


The Poker Royalty guy just tweeted this

Brian Balsbaugh ‏ @Balsbaugh

If the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summer

[doubleup]

The Poker Royalty guy just tweeted this

Brian Balsbaugh ‏ @Balsbaugh

If the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summer

lol that was b4 they had to admit they had f'all money in the bank 

[AndrewT]

What monopoly?

Last time I checked Tilt had no players and no business.

[TightEnd]

What monopoly?

Last time I checked Tilt had no players and no business.

Well their players are about to get $400m+ back, and talking of running the sites in tandem. Will be in an impregnable position in the largest world market opening up again.

Fantastic news for Stars, if its all as being said


another tweet

Lance Bradley ‏ @Lance_Bradley

1) Number is around $300/million for assets (rest is player balance) 2) DOJ also has no interest in blocking super site

[Hairydude]

Negraneu and lederer future endorsement buddies???

[tikay]

The Poker Royalty guy just tweeted this

Brian Balsbaugh ‏ @Balsbaugh

If the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summer

lol that was b4 they had to admit they had f'all money in the bank 

I don't know (or have any interest) in the other two, but I doubt anyone ever believed that Mr Tapie had the wherewithal. to finance such a deal.  As red herrings go & water-muddyers, though, it was a corker.

[doubleup]

The Poker Royalty guy just tweeted this

Brian Balsbaugh ‏ @Balsbaugh

If the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summer

lol that was b4 they had to admit they had f'all money in the bank 

I don't know (or have any interest) in the other two, but I doubt anyone ever believed that Mr Tapie had the wherewithal. to finance such a deal.  As red herrings go & water-muddyers, though, it was a corker.

I'm referring to FTP having no money in the bank, not potential investors.  GBT was struggling to justify paying about half that amount, so I can't see anyway that someone would have put up more than Stars amount when the books were audited.  Stars obv paying extra to get themselves of the hook with DoJ as well.

[TightEnd]

GBT Statement just out

    Groupe 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.”

[smashedagain]

The Poker Royalty guy just tweeted this

Brian Balsbaugh ‏ @Balsbaugh

If the $750m "all in" figure is correct, I know of 3 vastly more lucrative offers the FTP Board of Directors passed on last summer

lol that was b4 they had to admit they had f'all money in the bank 

I don't know (or have any interest) in the other two, but I doubt anyone ever believed that Mr Tapie had the wherewithal. to finance such a deal.  As red herrings go & water-muddyers, though, it was a corker.

I thought maybe you personally was gonna put up the dough to enable sky to take over.  I saw a photo of Mr  Tapie and thought he did not look like a guy I could trust

[stim1986]

For those still doubting deal--DoJ isn't killing Tapie without an alternative in place. DoJ ready for this to be over

PokerStars job listing for software developer in Dublin

POKERSTARS statement coming up soon about the whole FTP purchase.

[TightEnd]

This made me smile

Posted by an employee of a Stars competitor about events today

[parker]

maybe someone should have put a synidcate together using players funds as equity to buy the brand???