It’s been interesting to hear the word on the street about Anurag Dikshit and his settlement with the US Department of Justice. One issue that has folks scratching their heads is that he pled guilty to the Wire Act which at least one US district court deemed inapplicable to anything but sportsbetting which Party has never offered in the US.
But, a closer look at the numbers also yields some interesting thoughts. Dikshit remains PartyGaming’s largest individual shareholder with 27%. At its flotation, Dikshit made £420M (US$620M) and he received an additional £65.7M (US$99M) when he sold another batch of shares the following year. He also received a dividend of $64M in 2006, giving him an estimated fortune of about £1.14B (US$1.75B). Indeed, Forbes just did an update showing that Dikshit had a March, 2008 net worth of US$1.6B and it now shows him at US$1B. This Dec. 23 article points to him as one of the top ten “biggest flops” on their billionaire list.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106352/Billionaire-Blowups-of-2008
Observers will know that Dikshit’s plea agreement included a US$300M fine. He’s apparently already paid US$100M and the rest will be paid in two installments over the next year. So, if you do the math, he’s taken a 30% hit in net worth with that fine. But, wait…….
Interestingly enough, upon news of his settlement, the ever fickle market responded by raising the share price of Party Gaming 63.75 pence/share. If our calculations are correct, Mr. Dikshit, who still owns 109.3M shares, netted ₤69.7M or US$104.2M in one fell swoop. Within a few days, the share price rose again netting him roughly another US$10 million that day.
Given the vagaries of the market, particularly these days, who knows how the share price will hold up. But, as of now, Anurag Dikshit’s fine amounted to giving up 11% of his current net worth.
Clearly, the mental anguish and uncertainly may well have been the driving force behind his guilty plea. Not knowing his sentencing (in terms of jail time) will likely continue to weigh on his mind. But, a look at the numbers tells an interesting tale in the DoJ’s effort to catch a “big fish” in the i-gaming world.