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Mitch Garber

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Mitch Garber
File:Mitchheadshot2014.png
Garber in 2014
Born (1964-09-05) September 5, 1964 (age 60)
Montreal, Quebec
NationalityCanadian
OccupationBusiness Executive/Lawyer

Mitch Garber (born September 5, 1964) is a Canadian business executive who is currently the CEO of Caesars Acquisition Company, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, the World Series of Poker, and is Chairman of Cirque du Soleil

Career

Lazarus Charbonneau

Upon obtaining a degree in Industrial Relations from McGill University and a law degree from the University of Ottawa, Garber practiced law in Montreal at the firm Lazarus Charbonneau.[2] It was there that Garber gained his first foray into the gaming world, establishing a gaming focus and working with some of the biggest gaming equipment manufacturers and casino operators. Garber left Lazarus Charbonneau in 1999 to pursue his business career at SureFire Commerce Inc., an online payment processing company he helped start.

SureFire/Terra Payments/Optimal Payments/FireOne

In 2003, Garber engineered the merger of SureFire, then named Terra Payments Inc., with Optimal Group Inc., a NASDAQ-listed maker of robotics and related-equipment to form Optimal Payments, Inc., of which he became CEO. In 2005, Garber led the spin-off of FireOne Group Plc from Optimal Payments and subsequently floated FireOne on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM, serving as Executive Chairman.[3]

Party Gaming

In 2006, Garber became CEO of Party Gaming Plc, which at the time was the world’s largest publicly traded online gaming company by market cap, revenue and player liquidity.[4] It has been reported that Garber was paid annual compensation of $17 million.[5]

Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE)

In 2009, Garber was handpicked by the board of Caesars Entertainment (formerly Harrah’s Entertainment, but renamed Caesars following its $31 billion leveraged buyout by Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital) to lead its newly-created digital gaming and entertainment business. Garber would serve as CEO of the new entity, named Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), and be its first private investor.[6]

Playtika

While CEO of CIE, Garber discovered a recently founded Israeli startup called Playtika. Founded in Tel Aviv in 2010, Playtika was a pioneer of freemium social and mobile games. In 2011, Garber led CIE’s acquisition of Playtika.[7] Thereafter, Garber led the acquisition of three subsequent social games companies: Buffalo Studios in 2012, makers of Bingo Blitz, Electronic Arts’ Montreal-based World Series of Poker (Social) studio in 2013, to whom CIE had previously licensed the WSOP social and mobile game rights, and Pacific Interactive in 2014, makers of House of Fun. Through these acquisitions Garber positioned Playtika as one of the leading social and mobile game developers in the world.[8] Over the course of 2011-2015, Playtika, led by Israeli games guru, Robert Antokol, grew from 15 employees to more than 1,200 across 12 global offices. As of September 2015, Playtika’s network consisted of 20 million Monthly Active Users, 6 million Daily Active Users, and over 250 million app installs.[9]

Caesars Acquisition Company (CACQ)

In 2013, Garber became the CEO of Caesars Acquisition Company (CACQ), a NASDAQ-listed offshoot of Caesars Entertainment. In addition to CIE and the assets CIE owns – the World Series of Poker, U.S. regulated real-money online gaming businesses, and Playtika – other assets CACQ controls include multiple Las Vegas hotel and casinos, notably Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell, The LINQ, Bally’s, Paris, and outside of Las Vegas, the Horseshoe Baltimore and Harrah’s New Orleans.[10]

Cirque du Soleil

In 2015, Garber became Chairman of Cirque du Soleil following the entertainment company’s buyout by TPG Capital, Chinese private equity firm Fosun, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada’s second largest pension fund. Garber co-invested in the deal, making him a part-owner in addition to Cirque’s Chairman.[11]

Missed Opportunities

In the late 1990s, Garber connected with a then unknown Mark Cuban who was looking to raise money for his online broadcasting company, AudioNet. Garber chose not to invest. In 1999, Yahoo! acquired AudioNet, then named Broadcast.com, for $5.7 billion. Cuban used the proceeds of the sale to purchase the Dallas Mavericks and later sent Garber an autographed Mavericks jersey that read, “You should have invested, yet things turned out just fine for both of us.” The framed jersey still hangs in Garber’s office.[12]

In the late 1990s, Garber was also presented with an opportunity to invest in Hotmail. When Garber and his partners visited Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia, they were shocked to see Hotmail’s servers being cooled by plastic fans, tied together with string and telephone lines running throughout the room, powering the operation. Again, Garber chose not to invest. Hotmail was sold shortly thereafter to Microsoft for $400 million.[13]

Philanthropy

Along with his wife, Anne-Marie Boucher, Garber commits a considerable amount of his time and money to philanthropy. Some of the philanthropic initiatives Garber and Boucher have been and are currently involved in are:[14]

  • Garber sits on the board of Guy Laliberté’s One Drop Foundation
  • Garber has worked with René Angelil and Céline Dion to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis research
  • Boucher and Garber established The Garber Family Post Doctorate Fellowship in Hereditary Cancer at McGill’s Faculty of Medicine
  • Garber is a patron and benefactor to Aleh Jerusalem and Aleh Negev hospitals in Israel and Boucher is a Board Member
  • Garber is a patron of the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, which built a free children’s cancer hospital in St. Petersburg
  • Garber is a patron of St. Mary’s Hospital and Boucher is a Foundation Board member
  • Garber is a patron and contributor to the Weizmann Institute in Israel and Boucher serves on the Canadian Board
  • Garber is a patron of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation in Israel
  • Garber and Boucher are patrons of CIJA and have organized missions for non-Jewish business and political leaders to visit, learn about, and experience Israel
  • Garber is a patron and contributor to Lower Canada College, where his two children attended school, and Boucher serves on its Board
  • Garber is a Board member of Montreal Inc. a foundation designed to encourage local entrepreneurship and Montreal startups
  • Garber is a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the McGill University Faculty of Medicine
  • Garber and Boucher are Co-Chairs of the 2016 $55 million Centraide campaign

Recent television and media

In 2015, Garber joined the cast of the French-Canadian version of ABC’s hit show, Shark Tank, called Dans l’Oeil du Dragon, becoming its first ever Anglophone judge.

In 2016, Garber was profiled by the award-winning news magazine television series, W5.[15]

Garber is rumored to be part of an ownership group trying to bring the Expos back to Montreal. The group includes prominent Montreal businessman Stephen Bronfman, executive chairman of private equity firm, Claridge, and member of the Bronfman Family, and Larry Rossy, founder and CEO of Dollarama, Canada’s largest dollar store operator.[16]

For his 50th birthday, Garber threw a party in Montreal that included live performances by renowned platinum artists Eddie Money and Loverboy as well as Los Angeles DJ Sandra Luesse. He and his guests donated more than $150,000 to charity.

Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Rochelle, Lash. "Mitch Garber: The Go-To-Guy for Major League Entertainment". www.montrealgazette.com. Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  3. ^ King, Mike. "Harrah's Entertainment Puts Money on Online Ace Garber". www.canadianlawyermag.com. Canadian Lawyer Magazine. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  4. ^ Bowers, Simon. "Players Walk Away as U.S. Law Wipes Out 90% of Party Gaming's Poker Revenue". www.theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  5. ^ Petrowski, Nathalie. "Mitch Garber: Un Dragon Fou de Montreal". www.lapresse.ca. La Presse. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  6. ^ "Caesars Interactive - About Us". www.caesarsinteractive.com. Caesars Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  7. ^ Takahashi, Dean. "How One Israeli Investor Overcomes Fears and Continues to Invest in Games". www.venturebeat.com. Venture Beat. Retrieved 2015-11-21.
  8. ^ Stutz, Howard. "Garber nurtures Caesars Interactive to growth mode". www.reviewjournal.com. Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  9. ^ "Playtika - About Us". www.caesarsinteractive.com. Caesars Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  10. ^ "Profile: Caesars Acquisition Company". www.reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  11. ^ Van Der Linde, Damon. "Mitch Garber Steps into Cirque du Soleil Spotlight as Chairman of the Board". www.financialpost.com. Financial Post. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  12. ^ Brownell, Claire. "Is Gambling Industry Hotshot Mitch Garber Bringing Baseball Back to Montreal?". www.financialpost.com. Financial Post. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  13. ^ Rinaldo, Sandie. "Mitch Garber Rose From Humble Beginnings to head Up a $2.5 Billion Empire". www.ctvnews.ca. CTV News. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  14. ^ Kerr, Peter. "Mitch Garber - Successful Business Executive, Philanthropist, and Sports Fan". www.themontrealeronline.com. The Montrealer. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
  15. ^ Rinaldo, Sandie. "Mitch Garber Rose from Humble Beginnings to Head Up a $2.5 Billion Empire". www.ctvnews.ca. CTV News. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  16. ^ Brownell, Claire. "Is Gambling Industry Hotshot Mitch Garber Bringing Baseball Back to Montreal?". www.financialpost.com. Financial Post. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
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