JERSEY JACK PINBALL
GETS NEW INVESTORS


Date: 7th August 2015

Three new investors have taken a 'significant' stake in the Jersey Jack Pinball manufacturing business, it was announced today.

The Jersey Jack Pinball factory
The Jersey Jack Pinball factory

The three have been revealed as Leonard Abess, Andrew Paul and Scott Flanders.

Leonard Abess is Chairman and Executive Officer of ThinkLab Ventures based in Miami, Florida and is the former majority owner of City National Bank of Florida, which he sold in 2008 for $927m. He was voted Reader's Digest's America's Top Boss after using $60m of the proceeds to give bonuses to all of the 399 staff at the bank. His generosity was acclaimed by President Obama in his State of the Nation speech.

Andrew Paul is General Counsel and Managing Director of Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut. The company manages assets worth in excess of $14bn.

The third member of the group is Scott Flanders, who became CEO of Playboy Enterprises in 2009. He is a former CEO of Macmillan Publishing and CEO of Columbia House Company, the world's oldest and largest direct seller of music and video products.

The three have teamed up to invest in Jersey Jack Pinball in a deal which should provide a stable financial foundation for the company and is a vote of confidence in President and CEO of JJP Jack Guarnieri. Jack told Pinball News that the three investors are all pinball people and customers of the company. However he denied that Scott's involvement with Playboy Enterprises meant another Playboy pinball is on the way from JJP.

Here's the company's press release:


JERSEY JACK PINBALL ANNOUNCES MATERIAL INVESTMENT

LAKEWOOD, NJ, August 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Jersey Jack Pinball LLC, the New Jersey based award-winning pinball manufacturer and innovator, is pleased to announce a significant investment led by ThinkLAB Ventures, the family office of Time 100 honoree and Reader's Digest's "America's Best Boss" Leonard Abess, and joined by Tudor Investment Corp Managing Director Andrew Paul and Playboy CEO Scott Flanders.

Jersey Jack Pinball Founder and CEO Jack Guarnieri commented, "With this capital infusion we can now take our company to the next level. Our goal is to consistently deliver the finest games in the industry and the best game experience for our players." Jack continued, "This vote of confidence in me, in our Team, and in our products leaves no doubt that Jersey Jack Pinball will have the resources to develop and manufacture many more great games for our expanding worldwide player base for many years to come."

Lead investor, Leonard Abess says, "I have been a pinball fan my entire life. In Jersey Jack Pinball I saw company that has both the creative vision and technical abilities to renew and reinvigorate this industry. I have known Jack Guarnieri for many years and delighted in watching him develop the ultimate pinball game to date, The Wizard of Oz." Co-investor Andrew Paul added, "I am pleased to be associated with Jersey Jack Pinball. I have been a pinball fan since my teens and with Wizard of Oz, Jersey Jack is delivering absolutely state-of-the-art product. I am excited to be part of Jersey Jack Pinball as they develop the industry's most significant innovations and exciting games."


About Jersey Jack Pinball, LLC.

Jersey Jack Pinball, headquartered in central New Jersey, is a renowned manufacturer of modernized real, full-sized arcade commercial pinball machines. The company leads the industry with design and innovation. Veteran amusement industry figure Jack Guarnieri started in 1975 when he began servicing electro-mechanical pinball machines. Since then he has participated and led in all sides of the industry, from developing amusement centers, designing games, creating the online site PinballSales.com in 1999, and bringing Shuffle Alley back to life in 2002. In 2011, Jack Guarnieri saw a need for premium, technologically-advanced, and easily serviceable pinball machines and founded Jersey Jack Pinball. As of 2015, Jersey Jack Pinball machines can be found in 16 countries around the world. Following the success of its first game, The Wizard of Oz, Jersey Jack Pinball will manufacture the much anticipated Hobbit line of games this fall, and has announced a collaboration with famed pinball designer Pat Lawlor on a new, original-game to be launched in the spring of 2016.



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