A hot, mobile gaming startup was born in Israel. Then Chinese investors, including Jack Ma, bought it. On Friday, it went public on Nasdaq.
Playtika debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday. Credit: Playtika
Shares of Playtika, one of the world’s hottest mobile gaming startups, soared about 17 percent on the first day of trading Friday, after the company raised nearly $2 billion in a huge initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Israel-based maker of casino-style apps like Slotomania and World Series of Poker has more than 30 million active monthly users globally and generates about 70 percent of its business from gamers based in the United States.
The biggest winners in the listing, though, are based in China. Playtika was once owned by the American hotel and casino giant Caesars Entertainment, but Caesars ran into financial trouble and, in 2016, sold the unit that owned Playtika to a consortium of Chinese investors, including the internet tycoon Jack Ma and his longtime business partner, Shi Yuzhu. The group paid $4.4 billion for the company. Now, following the Nasdaq listing, it’s worth more than three times that, at $13.5 billion, according to Capital IQ.
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