Caesars Interactive Entertainment Inc. (CIE) has acquired Pacific Interactive UK Ltd. Headquartered in Britain, Pacific Interactive's development activities are in Israel. Pacific Interactive developed the social and mobile casino-themed House of Fun games, which are free to play, on Facebook, iOS, Android, and the Amazon marketplace. The purchase price was not disclosed but Israeli-media reports put it as high as $90 million.
This is not Caesar's first acquisition in Israel. In 2011, the company purchased Playtika for $85 million. Caesars said that it will retain the more than 100 employees of Pacific Interactive and integrate them into its operations. Pacific Interactive's Israel staff will therefore in all likelihood become part of Playtika's Tel Aviv development center.
Playtika CEO Robert Antokol said, “The House of Fun business is a great addition to our already-leading product portfolio. The acquisition allows us to offer a new quality product to our loyal user base and to attract new users. We believe the talented team at Pacific Interactive not only brings with it a unique product, but will also be a strong addition to the group and add to our market leadership in the category.”
Pacific Interactive founder and CEO Omri Shitreet said, “We are excited to join one of the largest and most successful social and mobile games companies in the world. We are confident that under the Playtika umbrella, we will be able to deliver an even better game experience for our players while at the same time creating great value for our new shareholders.”
Launched in 2011, House of Fun is one of the category’s leading social and mobile casino-themed games, boasting industry-leading KPI’s and a loyal user base of 700,000 daily active users and 2,700,000 monthly active users.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 18, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014