Gen con and WOC

[bolen]

I posted this on Circvs but I thought I would here as well. I hope Gen Con will not be a disaster this year

Now I know why WOC hasn't posted any events. They are owed BIG money by Gen Con. I wonder what will happen to it. Any lawyers want to fill us in on your thoughts?

http://www.livingdice.com/index.php?...tml&Itemid=117

 

[lrsach01]

By my calaculation from the PACER forms, GenCon LLC owes $3,500,470.70 as of the Feb. 15, 2008 filing date. That is pretty substantial although not unheard of given they began bankruptcy proceedings in December (per Adkinson's Corporate Resolution of 12/21/2007). It is an interesting read of who is owed what. Looks like the greatest amount is owed to a company in Columbus, Ohio, for Star Wars Celebration 4 decorations (or decor...it's not clear from the filing) which totals $748,956.81. The amount owed Lucasfilm and Make-a-wish totals $432,661.45. And there are several charges to LA area hotels. Looks like running Star Wars Celebration 4 is what is hurting GenCon LLC. Still, I wonder what the $431,055 owed to Hasbro was for....

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

They might owe Hasbro some money yet from buying GenCon from WotC... That's the only thing that come to mind.

 

[lrsach01]

They might owe Hasbro some money yet from buying GenCon from WotC... That's the only thing that come to mind.

Excellent point, KC. If that is the case (and it does sound good), then this debt has nothing to do with Hasbro preventing WotC from attending GenCon 2008 and we are back to the "Hasbro does do business with companies in bankruptcy" theory.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Man...someone needs to win the Mega Lottery to solve this problem .

 

[Dragonhelm]

Does the Lucasfilm/Make-a-wish thing relate at all to Katie Johnson? She was the little girl who passed away from brain cancer who had a custom R2 droid made by the 501st to look over her. They even made an R2-KT figure in her honor. I know this was pretty big to Lucasfilm.

???

 

[lrsach01]

Does the Lucasfilm/Make-a-wish thing relate at all to Katie Johnson? She was the little girl who passed away from brain cancer who had a custom R2 droid made by the 501st to look over her. They even made an R2-KT figure in her honor. I know this was pretty big to Lucasfilm.

I can't say for certain, but I don't believe so. What I understand is that there was an auction at Celebration 4 that was supposed to be a general fund raiser for Make-a-wish....not anything specific.

On a side note, starwars.com sells the R2-KT action figure (a pink R2 unit) with the proceeds going to Make-a-wish. The figures are only $10 When you can get them.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

I am a lawyer. I have not looked at the bankruptcy filings at all. But, as a general matter, when a company files for reorganization, a trustee is appointed to oversee the estate during the pendency of the bankruptcy. Neither the debtor (Gen Con) nor even the trustee can just pay creditors of their own volition. Basically the whole estate is reviewed, and a comprehensive payment plan is created and approved by the bankruptcy court. Then, and only then, do any of the creditors get paid. So, the mere fact that Gen Con has a significant list of creditors doesn't tell the whole story. Among other things, we would want to know what the debtor's assets are.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

OK, I was bored, so I took a quick scan of the full schedule. They have about $3.8m in liabilities and just under $1m in assets (essentially cash-on-hand). That, in and of itself, doesn't sound too dire. But, if my very quick review is correct, the liabilities include most of the money owed for GC '08, but the assets do not include the bulk of the money they will earn from GC '08. In short, the bankruptcy seems to me to be -- just what bankruptcy is indeed intended to be -- an effort to gain some "breathing room" to stay on their feet coming off the failed GC SoCal and Star Wars Celebration until they can get the big influx of cash from GC Indy.

I remain cautiously optimistic about the whole state of affairs.

 

[bolen]

OK, I was bored, so I took a quick scan of the full schedule. They have about $3.8m in liabilities and just under $1m in assets (essentially cash-on-hand). That, in and of itself, doesn't sound too dire. But, if my very quick review is correct, the liabilities include most of the money owed for GC '08, but the assets do not include the bulk of the money they will earn from GC '08. In short, the bankruptcy seems to me to be -- just what bankruptcy is indeed intended to be -- an effort to gain some "breathing room" to stay on their feet coming off the failed GC SoCal and Star Wars Celebration until they can get the big influx of cash from GC Indy.

I remain cautiously optimistic about the whole state of affairs.

I am afraid I am a bit ignorant of the law here. Are there limitations as to what they can use these assets to do? Are they forced to use them to pay off the liabilities before using them for other purposes? I am sure they still have more expenses for GC Indy. In short what are the limitations that bankruptcy places on Gen Con?