Stars Buy Portals

[Planet Mark]

Probably being a bit slow here, just caught the news that Stars have bought Poker Pages, PlayWinningPoker and Poker-Babes.

First congrats to an esteemed PAL member on the closing at least part of this deal

Interesting times for affiliates once again though, just as it seems that the poker sites have been ranking for a lot more terms than they did just a couple of years ago - a whole new front opens up.

Wondering what peoples thoughts on this were... you think other rooms will follow suit?

Mark

PS: If Pokerstars would like my fantastic international network of sites I'm very much open to offers!

[Turtleknife]

Wow. Those are some ugly sites with great PR. Anyone for a makeover?

[Spry]

Congrats on the sale! Interesting time indeed.

I have to think with the legal situation that the value of sites like the ones sold there is on the rise and I'm betting Steve got a hell of a deal. Congrats!

[Ridge]

Well I'd love to hear from Steven on this and I'm mainly curious if he is one step ahead of getting out of the affiliates game, paid model game, or stars just made an offer he couldn't refuse

As for a makeover of PWP, why fix it if it isn't broken? I guess I would do something a little different with it, but overall the traffic is in the top 25 of portals, its easy to navigate, and I Stars and their "SEO" team is more likely to screw the site up by changing anything IMO - So they need to be cautious.

I also wonder how many of these deals are for controlling rights and leave the webmaster running it for a price. That would seem the smartest/

Anyway, let's hear from the man himself

[MJ]

I don't expect him to comment here, I probably wouldn't - but if I had his ear I'd love to know if a deal like this comes tied with a noncompete.

[Haynesey]

I also wonder how many of these deals are for controlling rights and leave the webmaster running it for a price. That would seem the smartest/

There is a little more information here;

Poker Games - Shirley Rosario Poker Game Blog

I'd guess that Stars has retained all of the webmasters/founders with some agreement.

[Georgia Poker]

Wow. Those are some ugly sites with great PR. Anyone for a makeover?

Kinda like craigslist?

Don't fix it if it ain't broke.

[Ridge]

Even though I sold poker-babes, I will still be working on it. PokerStars has decided that they want to keep me as the face of Poker-Babes and I will be paid to continue to run the site and consult with the company. It is a great opportunity for me to show them how much I love and believe in their product and with a lot of hard work could eventually lead to even more exciting things for me.

yeah this makes sense, I know some of the other big deals over the last few years were similar to this.

@MJ - Yeah I'm not holding out for a response from Steve on this, but I know he will be reading so.... - Steve, congrats my man!

[Goose]

I speculate, that to get the best price for a website you probably wouldn't announce yourself as Pokerstars from the outset. Maybe such a company would enquire just from a hotmail account, and then when a price was agreed in principle introduce themselves more fully.

It does make you think doesnt it. I've had hundreds of cold calls over the years, as I am sure others have, asking if I wanted to sell, and I've always just politely said no without even asking how much. Who is hidden behind the free email accounts each time I wonder...

[Pokeraddict]

I speculate, that to get the best price for a website you probably wouldn't announce yourself as Pokerstars from the outset. Maybe such a company would enquire just from a hotmail account, and then when a price was agreed in principle introduce themselves more fully.

It does make you think doesnt it. I've had hundreds of cold calls over the years, as I am sure others have, asking if I wanted to sell, and I've always just politely said no without even asking how much. Who is hidden behind the free email accounts each time I wonder...

That was my experience as well. A buyer I dealt with even seems to have gone to the point of making a shell company to disguise the actual buyer.