Poker Stars Goes Public

Apr 18, 2006

After much debate Isai Scheinberg and Pinchas Shapira, the two men that own 3/4 of the Poker Stars company, have decided to sell their share of Poker Stars on the Initial Public Offering.  This is as opposed to the rumors earlier this year that they were selling the company outright to a single buyer.  The Initial Public Offering is an entity on the London Stock Exchange, and will allow people to buy and sell shares of the Poker Stars company. 

This is not an uncommon move for online poker sites.  Recently, Party Poker, Paradise Poker, and Pacific Poker have all done the same thing, and have enjoyed great success and financial gains by selling the company publicly.  Even though the option of selling the company to a single buyer presents the men with immediate capital, selling it on the IPO will benefit them more financially in the long run.  It is expected the company will sell for right around $2 billion American dollars. 

Scheinberg and Shapira have spoken with banks such as HSBC and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to discuss potential deals of the banks assisting Poker Stars go public.  No plans with banks have been made as of yet, but the decision to go public is final.

The remaining 1/4 of the Poker Stars shares are held mainly by employees, and they have no plans to sell their shares as of yet.