I always find it amusing to read statements from major companies involved in merger discussions saying that failed negotiations have ended ‘amicably’.  The fact is someone didn’t get what they wanted and decided to close shop.  Ending business talks with a flash of barred teeth should never be confused with the friendly smile of a colleague who has just lost a game of online bingo to you.

Case in point: According to statements filed with the London stock exchange the merger talks between online gambling companies Bwin in Austria and Sportingbet in the UK “have now been mutually and amicably discontinued”.

Both companies are heavily involved in online gambling, including free online bingo games and other various online bingo offerings.

There are no reasons being given why these talks failed, but fail they did.  Both companies are competitors and will remain so.  Does this mean they are to become amicable competitors?  I don’t think so.

As for the real reason for the failed talks, it’s speculated that Sportingbet’s pre-UIGEA US business activities may have left Bwin uneasy about potential future legal problems in this area.  No one wants to mess with the US at this time and purposely buying into a company with possible exposure in this area would only be inviting trouble.  However, this is mere speculation – maybe they tossed a coin and someone lost a bet on how talks should go?

Written by John Witherspoon - Play bingo online at http://bingostreet.com/ and read bingo news.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 2:37 am and is filed under Online Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.