Doyle Brunson is 72 years old and loved by everyone. He's a
kindly gentlemen with a twinkle in his eye and a folksy charm.
But it looks like he might not be getting a lot of love from the
SEC lately.
Acquiring the WPT
In July, some interesting news broke. Doyle Brunson and a group
of investors were thinking about acquiring World Poker Tour
Enterprises for $700 million. This was a hefty premium on the price
of the stock, and on July 8, the stock price increased by 50% based
on the news of the offer.
Soon after the proposed offer had been announced, Brunson and his
legal team stopped responding to requests from World Poker Tour for
additional information regarding their takeover offer. After people
started questioning whether or not the offer was legitimate, the
stock price started declining again.
No Comment
Doyle Brunson has refused to testify in the SEC's investigation
of the circumstances of this situation, and the SEC has asked his
attorneys to give them information that they say would violate
attorney-client privilege. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot
of response from Doyle Brunson or his representatives in public.
What's the Problem?
So Doyle Brunson made an offer, and then changed his mind. What's
the problem?
From what I can tell, the problem is not that an offer was made,
OR that it never became final. The question lies as to whether or
not it was appropriate to publicize the offer. It seems as if the
offer might not have been a legitimate offer, since communications
with Brunson and his attorneys halted so quickly after the offer was
made.
Time will tell how this will turn out. I'm not making any
judgment, but that's about as concise an outline of the SEC and
Doyle Brunson situation that I could come up with.
Another good article on this :
SEC Investigates Doyle Brunson
You might also be interested in reading about how
10-2 became known as "the Doyle Brunson." And you can also get
information about
Cindy Margolis' recent involvement with the World Poker Tour
here, and an article about
Courtney Friel here.
This page was last updated on January 5, 2006.
