Captured on Friday January 6, 2006
Some public srock history on 888.com
Traded on the London stock exchange
888.com is one of the world’s most popular online gaming companies. On 1st September 2005, it announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. As an ideal venue for this launch, 888.com chose the Media & Business Complex within the London Stock Exchange itself. The contemporary venue welcomed an audience of City investors, analysts, bank representatives and press to the launch.
The event made full use of the Forum, the Exchange’s most flexible event space, with impressive branded backdrops and staging. A variety of branded pop-up stands were also placed in the Atrium and 888.com utilised the comprehensive AV equipment, with a live web feed and conference cal
The Exchange has a unique mix of event space and broadcast studios. 888.com took advantage of the studio facilities a month after their launch event. On 29th September, CEO, John Anderson, was invited to open trading on the London markets by switching on ‘The Source’, a specially commissioned artwork reflecting the nature of financial markets in the electronic age. Before and after the market open, he was interviewed in Studio 3 by three major broadcasters on the company’s IPO launch.
The interview schedule was as follows:
Matt Robinson, Head of UK Marketing for 888.com said “In my opinion, the London Stock Exchange is one of the best facilities for an event in the UK. The venue is exceptional and I would score it 10/10 for every aspect.”
snaptastic – Fri, 06 Jan 06 :
Traders expect Ladbrokes bid for 888
888 Holdings, the online casino and poker company, closed at a record high yesterday on hopes that it could be a takeover target for Ladbrokes once the bookmaker has completed the ?3.3bn sale of its Hilton hotels.
Chris Bell, the Ladbrokes chief executive, is determined to make the most of the company’s independent status by expanding overseas and online, and traders reckon 888 could be a tempting target for the cash-generative bookie.
888 operates Casino-On-Net, one of the most popular online casino sites, and Pacific Poker, the fourth-biggest internet poker site. Around half its revenues come from the US and analysts note that its chief executive, John Anderson, was once a Ladbrokes employee.
On top of that, 888 appears to be one of the cheapest stocks in the sector, trading on a prospective price-earnings ratio of 14, according to stockbroker Killik & Co. 888 shares, whicfloated at 175p in September, closed 2.25p higher at 210.25p, valuing the FTSE 250 company at just over ?700
888.com Goes Public to the Tune of $261 million
888 Holdings, the Gibraltar-based company that runs the gaming sites 888.com, PacificPoker.com, and ReefClubCasino.com, has just gone public. This morning, the company released 84.4 million shares on the London Stock Exchange, earning shareholders about $261 million and bringing the company’s value to $1.04 billion.
The sale represented about 25 percent of the company‘s stock. Israeli brothers Avi and Aaron Shaked retained 51.2 percent of the company’s stock, which is valued at $550 million. They owned about 70 percent of the company before the sale and each made about $94 million today.
Brothers Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak, who collectively owned 23 percent of the company’s stock, sold $63 million worth of stock and retained about 17 percent of 888 Holdings, which is valued at $184 million.
Shares might have gone higher if the company went public a month ago, before PartyGaming released its quarterly report. In it, an independent auditor predicted that online poker growth would slow in upcoming months. The day the report was released, PartyGaming’s stock dropped 33 percent.
888 Holdings had predicted that it would be worth about $1.5 billion after the sale, but fell short due to PartyGaming’s report. 888 Holdings stock price opened at 182 pence and ended the day at 170 pence.