William Hill's 888 Shares Skyrocket Following Denied £700m Takeover Bid

Playtech made a formal offer of £700 million to the betting giant in July

888 Shares Skyrocket Following Denied £700m Takeover Bid From Playtech

888 Holdings shares rose 17.5% on Monday after it was disclosed that the William Hill owner had rejected a takeover bid from a gambling software startup this summer.

Playtech made a formal offer of £700 million to the betting giant in July.

According to The Sunday Times, the offer - 156p per share - was judged too low for the firm.

Prior to the buyout news, 888 Holdings shares had dropped 30% in a year, closing at 70.6p last week. They are currently around 17% lower. 

The company's executives, Labour peer Lord Mendelsohn and gaming industry veteran Per Widerstrom, were hurt when 888 was taken off the FTSE 250.

Under its main name, 888 controls a host of online bingo and casino companies. In 2022, it paid over £2 billion for bookmaker William Hill. In recent months, it has been impacted by new gaming restrictions.

Revenue fell to £405 million in the three months to September 30 from £449.4 million the previous year. Its UK and Ireland operations declined 10% to £157.2 million.