Amaya Inc, the owner of the world’s largest online poker site PokerStars, has announced its intention to change its name to ‘The Stars Group Inc’ as the CEO Rafi Ashkenazi wants to distance the company from the controversial tenure of former CEO and co-founder David Baazov and expand its portfolio.
As reports suggest, the company in its current location Montreal is facing bad press releases surrounding former chairman and CEO David Baazov, who is involved in legal some troubles. Also, the company ’s shareholders are pushing Amaya Inc management to distance themselves from Baazov as his continual association with the company has been tarnishing the reputation of the company.
Rafi Ashkenazi has perhaps paid attention to these requests from shareholders and has then proposed a few changes during a conference wherein Amaya Inc’s 1st quarter results were discussed.
The news of the possible name change was announced as and when Amaya delivered its Q1 financial report. It was also revealed that the company would be relocating its base from Montreal to Toronto, a vital move that will allow Amaya Inc to “more effectively manage its business affairs.”
Amaya Inc reported some impressive results in Q1, with overall revenue up 10 percent on the corresponding period last year, to $317.3 million. However, the online poker accounted for just 69 percent of the company’s total revenue, as opposed to 75 percent just one year ago.
Talking about the growth in 1st quarter, the Amaya Inc CEO Rafi Ashkenazi said on the conference call meeting “We continued our momentum in the first quarter as we execute on our strategy and reinforce the foundation for sustainable and diversified revenue growth, including through the strengthening of our core management team and operations,”
The Company’s shareholders will be voting later this year on the name change, at an upcoming annual general meeting. Ashkenazi gave no timeline for Amaya’s move to Ontario, perhaps keeping in mind the fact that first, the company must find a new CFO, as the current CFO Daniel Sebag, a close friend of Baazov’s, has already announced his intention in January to part his ways with the company.