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CBS and Viacom agree to sign $30 billion merger deal
CBS and Viacom have reached a long-rumored merger agreement. The two companies announced today that they will reunite as ViacomCBS. According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS and Viacom hope that, together, they'll be better positioned to fight against cable TV competition and streaming services.
Creditors fight back: MIdway gets sued
Sumner Redstone, his daughter Shari (a former Midway board member, mind you) and the mysterious Mark Thomas are all being sued, among others, by the various creditors that a nearly penniless Midway owes money to. Gamasutra obtained a copy of a 29-page lawsuit, detailing the alleged financial liberties taken by Midway's board (as well as the majority stockholders -- Sumner Redstone and now Mark Thomas), which accuses specific people of "breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste and unjust enrichment." The suit claims Midway's current financial situation as one that "arises out of a series of disastrous and ill-advised financial transactions that largely occurred during 2008," further positing that Midway's board "either approved of the transactions or, upon learning of them, looked the other way -- taking no steps to investigate and unwind them." According to the report, Redstone's now famous infamous sale of Midway to Mark Thomas for only $100,000 was an effort to obtain a "massive tax refund," sacrificing Midway in the process. Finally, the suit states that Midway, as a company, has been "insolvent" since some time in late 2007 and its board of directors simply turned a blind eye, allowing the company to sink further into debt.Oh, and Frank from legal? Your wife wants you home. She knows you've been pretending to go to work for the last seven months.
Judge says Sumner Redstone treated Midway 'like a toy'
Embattled Midway is back in court, with creditors asking for the head of majority stockholder (and mystery man) Mark Thomas. And Judge Kevin Gross seems inclined to side with the creditors, as bankruptcy proceedings go forward and he calls out former Midway owner National Amusements, Inc. (and it's owner, Sumner Redstone) for treating Midway "like it was a toy." As the publisher's set to run out of money by June, various creditors are in court fighting over the company's remaining assets and, in the process, Judge Gross is reviewing the somewhat dubious sale of Midway to the aforementioned Mark Thomas. To help put the court proceedings into perspective, we contacted Joystiq Law of the Game writer (and total lawyer) Mark Methenitis, who said, "The Midway sale circumstances are the type of facts that often make a court suspicious. Even though NAI's business justification of the sale does seemingly make sense, the sale of a company that size with debts that large for a net amount so small is suspicious to say the least." There's only a few months left until June so we're sure to see the results of this bankruptcy case play out in no time at all. Here's hoping the one profitable team at Midway can save themselves before the whole ship sinks.
Midway seeks $40 million from National Amusements for manufacturing
Cash-strapped Midway is so down in the dumps lately that it has struck a deal for $40 million from National Amusements to help pay for the manufacturing costs of the company's holiday lineup. National Amusements, which owns and operates movie theaters around the globe, will help the company in producing TNA iMPACT!, Blitz: The Leagues II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.Midway recently lost a trio of executives and fired around 100 people as it hit losses of almost $70 million in just the first two quarters of this year. Hopefully, the Christmas cash will give the company some bigger spoons for scooping the water out of the ship.
Midway's losses tallied up under Sumner Redstone's watch
Following yesterday's public resignation of Midway CEO David Zucker (no, not that David Zucker), Variety crunched the video game publisher's numbers after media titan Sumner Redstone's acquisition of the company in 2004. At that time, Redstone said, "Midway is clearly a second-tier producer, but it has the potential to be in the first tier, and that's what attracted me to the company. You're going to see an enormous infusion of talent in the very near future." Some of that talent included designer Harvey Smith who had some less than encouraging things to say about Midway before unsurprisingly leaving the company last fall.So how has good ol' Sumner's investment in Midway panned out? According to Variety, Midway's net losses since 2004 are "about $300 million"; its "revenue growth from 2004 through 2007" is a particularly unimpressive -3%; the change in "Midway stock value from the day Redstone took over through today" is a costly -79%; and the total loss in "equity value for Sumner Redstone" is in excess of $500 million, an estimate Variety calls "very conservative." With $8 billion in net worth, $500 million might not sound like much but, trust us, you don't get to be #86 on Forbes list of top billionaires by letting that kind of coin go. Let's see if Shari Redstone can clean things up.
