News 

PartyGaming, whose Party Poker website handles half of the world's online games, lost a third of its stock market value of $6bn yesterday after it revealed that growth had virtually come to a halt.

The company floated just 10 weeks ago but its prospectus made no mention that a downturn may be just around the corner. CEO Richard Segal pointed out that conversely it had not said that the company would continue to grow at the same 'spectacular' rate.

'We could not have been more explicit about our belief that rates of growth would moderate over time,' he told The Guardian. 'All we have done today is indicate that we think rates of growth may have moderated faster than we would have expected. ... We don't know to what extent it is part of a long-term trend.'

The news hit shares in rival operators Empire Online and Sportingbet and casts a shadow over the imminent flotation of 888.com.