Midway has been sold

[skuppy]

Not sure how this will affect future Midway games (of which, I only care about the Mortal Kombat franchise). From http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/

In an extremely surprising move, news came out today that Sumner Redstone, whose National Amusements, Inc. owned 87% of Midway Games's stock, has sold all of its stock to a private investor named Mark Thomas for $100,000 USD. The move comes as Redstone is looking to pay off $1.6 billion USD in debt; according to the Wall Street Journal, this sale would secure a hefty tax benefit.

In addition, the Los Angeles Times is reporting a bit more information, in that the sale may not be as much of a steal as it seems. The company is valued at $30.4 million USD (with shares at $0.33 USD), but currently has well over $150 million USD in outstanding loans, not to mention the $70 million USD loan from National Amusements that is now owed to Thomas. With the company losing money this past quarter and Thomas reportedly being only a passive investor (with no plans of sitting on Midway's board of directors or engaging in management decisions), the LA Times could very well be right that Thomas may be looking to divide and sell the company and hope to make a profit by the end of the day. However, this is only speculation; Mark Thomas has only released scant information on his plans through the attorney arranging the purchase, and is not granting interviews.

We'll keep an eye on this story. As we learn more, we'll report it here.

To read the Wall Street Journal's announcement of the sale, click here. To read the LA Times analysis of the purchase, click here.

[jasonlives13]

I think mortal kombat will be safe, its there pride and joy so to speak

[Speck]

I didn't even know Midway was still in business. Shows you how much I keep up with gaming :|

[The Dark Vampire]

When private equity investor Mark Thomas purchased controlling interest in Midway Games from Sumner Redstone's National Amusements last November, he also acquired the game publisher's debts to its parent company. Now that Midway has gone bankrupt, Thomas wants to ensure he's among the first creditors in line for repayment if the publisher is liquidated.

Even Midway's owner is selling a pessimistic view of the company.

As initially spotted by GamePolitics, Thomas (through his Acquisition Holdings Subsidiary company) filed a pre-hearing statement with the bankruptcy court late last month. In arguing for adequate protection on AHS's secured debt, the company also offered a number of insights into the publisher's precarious position. The AHS filing stated that at the rate Midway is burning cash, its reserves will be depleted by late June. Making matters worse, the publisher has no new major releases planned to arrive by then, so there's no expected influx of cash on the way.

Furthermore, AHS says that Midway has overstated the value of its assets, such that the total value of the company is not worth more than the amount of AHS's secured debt, some $30 million.

"While Midway did obtain a 2008 appraisal which purports to show substantial value for Midway's assets, an examination of that appraisal shows that it was based on unrealistic and unreasonable assumptions," AHS claims. "In any event, bids actually received by Midway for its assets show that that the appraisal is unreliable."

The filing indicates that Midway has received acquisition bids from a number of companies, with the highest bidder topping out at $30 million. The names of all bidders in the process were redacted from the transcript obtained by GameSpot.

Another point of note in the filing is that Thomas originally offered $1 million for Redstone's shares of Midway on November 20. However, after deciding that the risks involved with the company were higher than he'd originally considered, he revised the offer to $100,000 on November 24. The deal was eventually finalized on November 26.


Credit>Gamespot.com

[nottidelterrore]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c332/albadeimorti/6ebe8488.jpg

[The Dark Vampire]

Wonder what this will mean to TNA Impact 2

Regarding that I've heard a lot of rumours about that some say it bombed and lost a lot of money others say it didn't do that well but made a profit

I did hear there was still going to be a TNA Impact 2 as they had all the wrestlers programmed from the 1st one and other stuff so making a 2nd one wouldn't hardly cost anything so it would make a better profit

[Jason's Storm]

Kind of hard to believe that they went bankrupt. Because despite, the shitty economy, the gaming industry, is in a bit of a boom, as more people are staying at home for entertainment. I wonder if the mortal Kombat rights, will go back to Boon and Tobias.

~JS

[SlasherFreak]

Kind of hard to believe that they went bankrupt. Because despite, the shitty economy, the gaming industry, is in a bit of a boom, as more people are staying at home for entertainment.

That is an interesting point...but in the same economy, what are these people doing spending 50+ bucks on a video game?

Thats easily an electricity or phone bill.

[Sketch Sanchez]

To escape that phone bill.

its a vicious, ridiculous, cycle.

[Biosynthnut v.2]

MK died after part 4...some say even part 3.. Their other games....were not blockbusters but did well.

So long Midway...

[The Dark Vampire]

- Warner Bros. said they may be interested in picking up Midway Games, the maker of the TNA video game, who filed Chapter 11 on 2/12.
Credit>Gerweck.Net

[ToJarJa]

Funny I thought Square Enix would pick up Midway since they're on a buying spree as of late. Think MK is bad now? Wait until everyone in the game is ambigious male with strange haircuts.