World Poker Tour May Soon Be For Sale Says WSJ
According to Wall Street Journal reporter/columnist Brett Arrends, the World Poker Tour–the annual televised series of high-stakes poker tournaments that bring out the biggest names in professional poker and which just about all of the top poker sites are always running satellites for entry into to compete against these big name pros–is more than likely going up on the auction block (so to speak).
Yes, the company The World Poker Tour that is responsible for the tournament series of the same name may be going up for sale soon. Now no one’s confirmed this, yet; this is just one journalist’s prediction, but it is one in-the-know journalist too.
The “evidence”? Well one major piece is the WPT’s CFO admitting he revealed confidential company data to some “interested” third parties. Put this along with public knowledge of the company operating at a hefty loss for a while now, and it isn’t hard to connect the dots.
Back in 2005, Doyle Brunson himself was considering buying the company for $700 million, but that didn’t pan out. Would he buy it now? Going with the odds, we’d say not. But what do we know. Even with an expected dip in U.S. revenue (bad economy, and the whole illegal online gambling in the U.S. law) poker is still apparently booming overseas. And word is international bigwigs might be cooking up an international governing body for poker that allows for even more broadscoped possibilities for the game.
That bodes well for the WPT. Because while it may slip into the background when the WSOP is afoot, the show that brought the hole-card cam into living rooms across the land and names like Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer and Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu on our lips will surely last as long as poker and media do. It’ll just be under new ownership.
The WPT is broadcast into over 150 different countries. Estimates are that the WPT is worth about $25 million.
