In perhaps the first major acquisition of a Bitcoin company, the gambling site sold this week for 126,315BTC, or $11.47million.
The site was launched by Erik Voorhees in late April 2012 with shares being traded on MPEx, a Bitcoin securities exchange.
Voorhees announced the sale on Wednesday evening via Bitcointalk.
Dear Asset Holders,
I have some very important news to share with you. Some of you will be pleased, and some upset, but I believe this to be a solid, desirable, and fair outcome for those who have put their trust in S.DICE.
SatoshiDice is being sold, in full, to a new company that will take over all ownership, operations, and management. The total sale price is 126,315 BTC, or 0.00126315 BTC per share.
According to the MPEX Agreement, MPEX holders are entitled to receive 0.00126315 BTC per share, alongside other private owners. However, for the good of the MPEX holders and for the sake of the general Bitcoin community, which the site always has intended to support and nurture, SatoshiDice has arranged to pay MPEX holders an additional .00223685 BTC per share bringing the total to 0.0035 BTC per share.
This is a 277% premium over the sale price and a roughly 175% premium over the current market price of S.DICE shares on MPEX. It is also roughly equivalent to the average price of S.DICE shares at IPO (though BTC was $12 back then, and over $90 today).
Note that the MPEX order book for S.DICE was cancelled just prior to this announcement in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of standing orders.
While I know some S.DICE owners intended to hold for a long time, and will thus be dismayed by the buyout, it is my sincere hope that this compensation level will be amenable. It is substantially higher than the contract mandates, and it is almost 3x higher than all private owners are being paid. It has not been easy to negotiate to this level, but I believe it is the right thing to do.
Further, there will be an additional small amount added to compensate for the previously deducted costs of the new website development, as it did not feel right for S.DICE holders to have paid for development of a site they won’t have a stake in after the buyout.
This letter is being posted roughly 24 hours prior to the payout, at which point MPEX holders will receive .0035 BTC per share plus the small additional amounts mentioned above. MPEX will then de-list the asset and the S.DICE MPEX Agreement will be satisfied. The payout will occur in roughly 20 increments over a period of several hours and will arrive in S.DICE holders’ accounts (in the same manner as dividends). All passthrough operators are responsible for their own assets and customers, obviously.
As per the S.DICE agreement, asset owners do not have voting rights to effect operational changes, nor any rights to negotiate nor block a full buyout of the company. Nevertheless, SatoshiDice has kept the interests of the asset holders in mind throughout this negotiation process, and has intended to treat these holders fairly, above and beyond contractual obligations.
I highly value and respect the trust you have placed in me, and I hope this outcome reciprocates that respect.
Kind regards,
-Erik Voorhees
