Playtika Indicates Potential Sale by Conducting Strategic Review

Mobile gaming entertainment company Playtika is to conduct a strategic review that would indicate the business could be sold, which could have a significant impact on the UK social casino market.

Playtika offers free-to-play social casino games, offered on social networks and mobile platforms. Its UK subsidiary, Playtika UK – House of Fun Limited, was founded in 2011; the name emanates from Playtika’s House of Fun free slot game.

Playtika competes with the likes of Zynga, with a majority of its revenue generated by in-app purchases. Playtika is the operator of the F2P World Series of Poker app.

No assurances made

Playtika Holding Corp. said a comprehensive review and evaluation of strategic alternatives across its portfolio will be conducted in an attempt to enhance shareholder value. Morgan Stanley will act as a financial adviser to Playtika during the process.

Playtika stopped short of explicitly stating that a sale of the business will be a desired outcome from the review, when stating: “There can be no assurance that the strategic review process will result in any strategic transaction.

Playtika does not currently intend to disclose developments related to the strategic review process unless and until the Special Committee and Board have approved a course of action for which further disclosure is appropriate.”

A fundamental shift

In a filing published by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US in January, Playtika announced a planned 15% reduction in employees in the first quarter of 2026, at a cost of approximately $12 million to $15 million. Company employees were informed of this plan by Playtika Chairperson and CEO Robert Antokol on January 14.

Antokol wrote in that letter:

“Dear Playtikans, I am writing to share a message that is both difficult and necessary. Today, we are reducing the number of our employees by approximately 15%. This decision was not made lightly. It reflects a fundamental shift in how we operate so we can invest in the future and remain a leader in a highly-competitive mobile games market.”

Shares in Playtika have been falling since the first year in which the company began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, where it launched in January 2021. After reaching a high of $29.44 in October 2021, the share price has since dropped to $3.14 at the time of writing.

Significance in the UK

The latest available accounts on Companies House showed Playtika UK generated revenue of $167.3 million (£133.8 million) for 2024, down from £186.004 million for 2023.

The UK is a significant part of Playtika’s business, but it is part of a much wider landscape. For 2024, which is the last set of results where both UK and global revenue is publicly available, global revenue was $2.55 billion, down slightly from $2.57 billion.

Playtika is headquartered in Israel and operates offices and studios across North America, Europe and Australia, including key locations in Tel-Aviv, London, Berlin, Vienna, Helsinki, Warsaw, Kyiv, Montreal, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Santa Monica.

While Playtika is not required to obtain gambling licenses from regulators such as the Gambling Commission in Great Britain, it is still required to obtain various licenses, permits, and government approvals.

Social casinos are technically not regulated in the UK, provided they are free-to-play and do not offer prizes of money or money’s worth, but operators are subject to advertising standards and consumer protection regulations.