Poker Stars Purchases Full Tilt Poker
This was published 01-05-2012After seven months of intensive work the proposed deal between Groupe Bernard Tapie and Full Tilt Poker has fallen through due to the fact that the US Department of Justice decided at the last minute that the French investor had to make payment to Full Tilt players in full within ninety days of the sale. Groupe Bernard Tapie was not prepared to do this and the deal fell through.
It therefore came as a pleasant surprise when Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker’s biggest competitor, revealed that it is in the process of negotiating a deal with the United States Department of Justice to acquire the beleaguered online poker room.
Poker Stars will be paying $330 million of the amount of $750 million that it is paying to the United States Department of Justice to repay Full Tilt account holders in order to seal the deal. The remainder of the purchase price, namely $420, will evidently be retained by the United States Department of Justice in lieu of the complete settlement of all outstanding charges against Poker Stars should the deal go through.
It will be necessary for Poker Stars to accept all the legal and financial underlying risks pertaining to the conditions laid down by the United States Department of Justice. Full Tilt Poker Players will hopefully be paid immediately by Poker Stars as this has been the United States Department of Justice and everyone else’s main consideration.
Rumors have been circulating that it is Poker Stars intention not to merge Full Tilt Poker with its operations but to run it completely separate under the Full Tilt banner if the deal materializes.
Party Poker is a poker site with a clean reputation and is backed by a publicly traded company obligated to disclose all the financial information that other privately owned poker sites were able to keep hidden until recently. Following “Black Friday” players value this transparency and many are following the potential acquisition of Full Tilt Poker by Poker Stars with great interest.
