The company which produces the World Poker Tour TV series called WPT Enterprises Inc. has recently come to an agreement with Peerless Media Ltd. to see their assets. The deal calls for Peerless Media to pay WPT Enterprises Inc. $12.3 million with only $1 million being paid upfront. The rest of the money will be paid over the next few years with $9 million of it coming after the deal is officially closed.
In addition to the $12.3 million, Peerless has also agreed to pay WPT Enterprises 5% of future revenue that comes from using the World Poker Tour brand name. The WPT logo is prominently displayed at all tournament events as well as on all of the merchandise.
As for World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc. itself, a spokesperson for the WPT said that they would use the money made from the sale to develop non-poker business ventures. The only thing the WPT will be keeping besides 5% of its brand name will be its original cash, investment and litigation assets, a small part of future foreign sponsorship money, and investments in debt securities.
The sale of WPT Enterprises’ assets comes after a long freefall in the company’s value over the past few years. Before the sale, WPT Enterprises’ stock dropped down to just $1.05 a share which is a far cry from the $20 it was at in 2005. Event attendance also became an issue for the WPT over the course of the past couple years as 38% less people played in the 2009 WPT Championship as the year before.
Peerless Media Ltd. will certainly be hoping to change things around for the World Poker Tour. Peerless is actually a subsidiary of the much larger PartyGaming plc. company. Founded in 1997, PartyGaming offers a number of games and gambling sites to users across the globe.
