Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Peter Fryers
Poker Expert

Baazov resigns in full from Amaya Inc

PokerStars' parent company and David Baazov part ways following the CEO's decision to resign from all positions at the Canadian operator.

David Baazov

Amaya announced on Friday that their former CEO David Baazov has resigned from all positions with immediate effect.

Back in March, the entrepreneur, opted to take a voluntary leave of absence from his positions as CEO and board chairman, with the official reason cited that he needed to dedicate the time to his pursuit of buying the Canadian firm outright. That news came a week after the news broke that he was also under investigation by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) into insider trading charges over Amaya's purchase of PokerStars, something Baazov vehemently denies.

Ashkenazi is the new permanent CEO

Rafi Ashkenazi

Moving forward, Rafi Ashkenazi, who has been holding the position on an interim basis since March, will now lead the group on a permanent basis, while Divyesh Gadhia has been installed as the new full time chairman of the board.

With a share of roughly 70 percent of the worldwide online poker market, Amaya, through Full Tilt and, more prominently, PokerStars are by far the biggest operators in the game.

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