Ladbrokes is a British gambling company which has its origins in 1886.
The company began humbly as commission agents and expanded in the 1990s to retail betting after its legalization by the government. It is considered to be Britain’s largest bookmaker and has thousands of betting shops across the UK and Ireland. It is also considered one of the world’s largest retail betting chains. The company has been undergoing negotiations with online gaming and betting company, 888 Holdings, from December 2010. 888 Holdings is a solely internet-based company which takes bets online. The company which began in the year 1997 has several good gaming websites. The license of the company to operate online gambling comes from Gibraltar.
Once the news of the possible takeover of 888 Holdings by Ladbrokes broke out, the share price of 888 Holdings skyrocketed. The negotiations began with an offer of 70p per share by Ladbrokes. But doubts regarding the takeover surfaced in early March 2011 when 888 Holdings announced its acquisition of Wink Bingo which included payments to the board of Wink. Many felt that Ladbrokes may have to wait till the payments due to Wink is completed by 888 Holdings to carry forward the takeover.
Doubts increased upon the stepping down of the CEO of 888 Holdings on April 10th, 2011. It was soon after that, on April 15th, 2011, Ladbrokes confirmed these doubts saying that the negotiations fell through.
According to them, the 61 percent owners of the company, the Israeli families of Shaked and Ben-Yitzak refused to change their demand for 80p per share even after months of talks. Spokesperson of Ladbrokes state that the deal was shut down as they felt it would not benefit the shareholders of the company.
The chief executive of the company Mr. Glenn commented that the company was in no hurry to expand through takeovers even though it will look for such opportunities in the future as well. According to him, an organic growth suited Ladbrokes just fine at the moment.
Ladbrokes has been to trying for a while now to gain foothold in the online gambling industry. Though the company operates several online gambling sites, it has not been able to gain ground there as it has in the offline retail betting industry. The company is very aware of the fact that without a good online business, it is very difficult to continue its profitable stride. Therefore, they have been bidding to buy out some of the online giants in the gaming field.
With regard to 888 Holdings, this is the second failed attempt by Ladbrokes to take over the company. It had tried its luck four years ago in 2006 when both companies announced merger negotiations. But the deal fell through due to changes in tax laws that took place in the UK that time. Again in 2009, there were rumors of Ladbrokes trying to buy out 888 Holdings shares. But the company denied these rumors then as rubbish.
Ladbrokes quest to rein over the online betting world is still underway. The company continues to battle its rivals and strive toward improving businesses even in the face of falling share prices and deals gone south.