Not everyone’s a fan of the soon-to-be official name of the merged PartyGaming and Bwin brands, which will simply be bwin.party, as the CAP News page reported last month.
Not to worry, though — even after the merger, the two online gaming heavyweights will retain their individual brand names. In case that wasn’t clear with bwin’s announcement, PartyGaming itself has underlined it:
“The new company will operate worldwide with its existing brands under the name of bwin.party digital entertainment plc, in which current bwin shareholders are expected to hold 51.7 per cent of the shares and current PartyGaming shareholders 48.3 per cent,” the company explained in a news release.
“Our products and target markets complement one another perfectly, and we can continue to expand our technology lead in all key product segments: sports betting, poker, casino, bingo and games,” explained bwin co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger.
That’s good news for casino affiliates and poker affiliates who promote either or both of the products successfully and don’t want to jeopardize that income. However, it’s hard to imagine that, if the merger is successful, that there won’t be a slow consolidating of the two company’s services and brands in the coming years.
There’s also the small matter of bwin’s shareholders getting 51.7 percent of the new company, while PartyGaming shareholders get the remaining, smaller 48.3 percent share. That could make all the difference in the coming years, if the new company decides to jettison one of the older brands.
And, again, all this is contingent on shareholder approval, which is likely but not certain. That will be decided at an “Extraordinary General Meeting” of the bwin executive board on January 28, 2011. Stay tuned to CAP News for full details.