NEW FINANCE CHIEF FOR WORLD POKER TOUR
(537) (27-September-2006)
Friedman gets the executive nod
The Board of World Poker Tour Enterprises this week named Scott Friedman
the new Chief Financial Officer of the company.
Friedman moves up from his position as Vice President of Finance and
Corporate Controller at WPTE to take over the position formerly held
by W. Todd Steele , who has moved on to a private equity firm. Steele
will depart his position on October 30th to ensure a smooth transition
in the position with WPTE.
Friedman has been with WPTE since 2004 following his departure from
Sony Pictures Entertainment. He began his career with Arthur Anderson
as a Certified Public Accountant.
"Scott has been a valuable member of our team since we took WPTE
public and has been instrumental in helping grow the business over the
last few years," said Steve Lipscomb , Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of WPTE. "Todd has been a strong member of our management
team, and we wish him well in his new endeavor. WPTE has become a fundamentally
strong organization, with bench strength across our financial operations.
As a result, we were able to promote from within, allowing us to seamlessly
transition as we continue to grow our businesses and build shareholder
value."
WPTE management took the opportunity to also announce that the company
has divested its stock holdings in PokerTek, Inc. PokerTek has developed
the PokerPro hybrid poker table which merges computer technology with
live game play (see previous InfoPowa reports) and WPTE had held approximately
450 000 shares of the company's stock. The divestiture is expected to
earn WPTE approximately $4.5 million for their third quarter 2006 fiscal
year report.
Commenting on the sale, Lipscomb said, "We are pleased with the value
that we have generated for our shareholders through our investment in PokerTek.
We believe this is a good example of leveraging our brand and position
in the poker marketplace to create successful partnerships. We expect to
utilize the proceeds from the stock sale to further build our core media
and online gaming businesses." |