Although this probably could have been anticipated in advance, Betfair's initial public offering (IPO) in London proved to be hugely successful.
Betfair's first sale of stock to the public turned into such a winner that it caused an additional allocation of shares to be placed on the market. The original shares at the value of ₤233.7 million were floated at a price of GBP 13. This rate jumped to above GBP 15 on the first day of trading. As Betfair's IPO was so successful and following this boost in the share price, an over-allocation clause was activated, putting additional shares at the value of ₤22.8 million onto the market. This figure is before commissions and various costs have been deducted. The extra allocation of shares produced an additional ₤3.6 million in cash for Betfair founders, Andrew Black and Ed Wray.
Black and Wray earned the huge amounts of ₤1.9 million and ₤1.7 million respectively from the selling of the additional floating of 10% of shares. This cash is in addition to the amounts of ₤14 million and ₤17 million already earned from the sale of the original shares. This sale together with the sale of shares by other shareholders, including Charlton Acquisition and Balderton Capital, brought about the situation of 46% of the company being available on the market.
The Betfair exchange boasts a massive 5 million transactions a day and offers a range of services that include sports betting, casino and poker gaming. Betfair is licensed by the Gambling Commission and employs over 2,000 members of staff in different places around the world. Betfair offers betting services to people in various parts of the globe. For the convenience of customers, the Betfair site may be accessed in a range of different languages including English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.