Paddy Power employees are now paying the steep price for the giant bookmaker’s £5 billion ($7.4 billion) marriage with Betfair.
The latest casualty of the Paddy Power – Betfair merger was its office in Isle of Man, where its office staff were told of the redundancies. At least 10 jobs were affected during the opening salvo of job cuts in the Isle of Man, according to the Isle of Man Examiner.
Operations of Paddy Power in the Isle of Man will be transferred to Malta as part of its plan to trim nearly 10 percent of its workforce following last year’s merger of the two giant bookmakers.
Closer to home, Paddy Power has let go of some of the members of its marketing team, with one employee describing the job losses to UK marketing news source Campaign Live as a “clearout.”
First to leave the company following the multi-billion merger deal was then Paddy Power chief marketing officer Gav Thompson. He was replaced by his counterpart at Betfair, Jonathan Devitt, who took on a joint chief marketing officer role in March.
Ken Robertson, who was promoted to advertising director in April, remained in place.
Thompson’s departure from Paddy Power, meanwhile, triggered an exodus inside the giant bookmaking firm. Paddy Power Betfair declined to comment on the job losses.
In May, Paddy Power Betfair (PBB) announced that it will be merging its media and advertising accounts. Campaign Live said PBB’s merged marketing account will be handled by MediaCom (for PPB planning & buying) and Lucky Generals (for PPB creative strategy).
Merging its media assets, MediaCom who are lead agency for Betfair will take over Paddy Power media planning from M2M. While long-term Paddy Power creative advisor Lucky Generals will now lead Betfair creative strategy and execution.
Campaign Live values the merged PPB media account at an estimated £40 million. Prior to its review PPB governance had outlined that the operator would look to reduce costs within its marketing operations as the firm looks to implement + £100 million in post-merger savings.
PPB will likely keep a separate media strategy for both Paddy Power and Betfair brands as both operators have cultivated unique audiences from previous marketing campaigns.
