dj11 said:
I still don't understand why Stars feels it is necessary to but Tilt. DoJ must have put one juicy carrot at the end of the stick it is holding over Stars, AND Stars gets Rush. Other than that it doesn't make much sense. If they did not buy Tilt, and since the GBT deal fell fallow, Tilt, and any competition it provided, would just fade into the courts, and Stars benefits from it's main competition just disappearing.
That carrot must be mighty juicy!
If the deal includes having the charges against the company and its high-up managers dropped then yes, it's a mighty juicy carrot and the fact that they effectively wipe their biggest competitor off the map while generating tons of goodwill with the poker playing public is just a bonus.
You've got to compare this to the alternative: if they don't do this deal then there's a lengthy legal battle ahead of them which will no doubt cost them millions in legal fees, not to mention the staggering fine or settlement they'd probably have to pay at the end.
And if they don't do this deal, and someone else buys Full Tilt, then their biggest competitor is back in action, taking traffic and rake off Stars with the huge promotions and incentives they're almost certain to introduce when they're back in action.
If I'm sitting at the head of Stars, I've got $750 million to spare and I've got those kind of incentives in front of me, I think it's a pretty easy decision...
