Casino Choice UK News Archive
PartyGaming’s founders lose big on stock market
Over 60 percent was wiped of the share price of PartyGaming in the aftermath of Friday’s legislation, while similar percentages were slashed from 888 and Sportingbet.
The damage was caused when the three companies decided individually to pull out of the US market, from well over 50 percent of their revenue was derived. The share collapse hit many investment funds badly, but it was no picnic for the founders of PartyGaming, who are still major shareholders. Anurag Dikshit, the Delhi software engineer and co-founder of PartyGaming remains the biggest share-holder in the company: his 29 percent stake was worth roughly $1.24 billion dollars before the crash. It is now worth just over $800 million.
In effect, the new legislation cost Mr Dikshit roughly $450 million, a bad day at the office by anyone’s standards. Ruth Parasol, Vincent Bhargava and Russel DeLeon, the other founders of PartyGaming, took similar hits to their bank balances.
Nevertheless it is not all doom and gloom for PartyGaming. The company has significantly expanded its non-US operations over the last 12 months, and this will stand it in good stead for the future. Already share-prices are beginning to recover, and while the future will never be as bright as it would if the US market was still accessible, there is plenty more growth left in the non-US poker market, of that you can be sure.
The damage was caused when the three companies decided individually to pull out of the US market, from well over 50 percent of their revenue was derived. The share collapse hit many investment funds badly, but it was no picnic for the founders of PartyGaming, who are still major shareholders. Anurag Dikshit, the Delhi software engineer and co-founder of PartyGaming remains the biggest share-holder in the company: his 29 percent stake was worth roughly $1.24 billion dollars before the crash. It is now worth just over $800 million.
In effect, the new legislation cost Mr Dikshit roughly $450 million, a bad day at the office by anyone’s standards. Ruth Parasol, Vincent Bhargava and Russel DeLeon, the other founders of PartyGaming, took similar hits to their bank balances.
Nevertheless it is not all doom and gloom for PartyGaming. The company has significantly expanded its non-US operations over the last 12 months, and this will stand it in good stead for the future. Already share-prices are beginning to recover, and while the future will never be as bright as it would if the US market was still accessible, there is plenty more growth left in the non-US poker market, of that you can be sure.
Submitted: 10/10/06 at 11:39:46
