Amaya CEO Officially Steps Down

Amaya 2Amaya Gaming, owner of the PokerStars platform, said Friday that former CEO David Baazov has resigned “from all positions” with the company. Baazov took a voluntary leave of absence from his positions as CEO and board chairman following insider trading charges that were made public in March.

Baazov pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from the alleged use of privileged information when trading company shares between December 2013 and the June 2014 deal to acquire PokerStars, the world’s largest poker site, for $4.9 billion.

Rafi Ashkenazi, who was appointed interim CEO in March, is now at the helm of Amaya “on a permanent basis,” the company said. Baazov had remained president and a board member. “I am proud of my contributions in building Amaya into the successful company it is today, and continue to be supportive of its strategy and management,” Baazov said in a statement.

Also on Friday, Amaya announced financial results from the second quarter of 2016. The company’s real-money online poker revenue for the quarter was $215.6 million, which was virtually flat year-over-year. Total company revenue was $285.9 million for Q2, up 10.2 percent year-over-year.

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