The world of high finance is a stange thing and something way beyond my abilities as a mere mortal, so I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction as to what is going on here.
Mark Thomas a relative unknown in the media world purchased Midway outright from Sumner Redstone last year for $100k and the $70 million debt that the company was currently in.
Now fast forward to today where Midway has been declared bankrupt and the vultures have swooped in, I would now presume that Mark’s little gamble would have cost him $70 million as he took on the debt of the company… right?
Well no, it seems that not only is he not liable for the $70 million but they are going to give him his $100k back along with an extra $4.9 million… The only reasoning I can see for this is that the creditors stated that if they went to court with Mark he would have defended his position “vigorously” and
“extensive, time-consuming and costly discovery, research and litigation.”
Or in other words he was going to be a right royal pain in the ass. So if you are in the market for an extra $4.9 million then just go and find yourself a failing company, take it over, watch it fail and then defend your actions “vigorously”.
Source:Â Gamasutra
Last Updated: June 9, 2009
janrik
June 9, 2009 at 09:47
Well the one SAA boss did the same.
Got them down R500 mil or so and then took a R100 mil golden parachute away….
Nice.
LazySAGamer
June 9, 2009 at 10:53
You think that’s bad check out the soap opera that is following the Australian Telstra CEO… But in both those cases the person responsible was an employee and didn’t buy a company
joko
June 9, 2009 at 14:18
I wouldnt blame the executives for exploiting the system. I would blame the system. Government control over business and employees allows them to get away with murder and the claim a salary for it; unions and employee protection are to blame