Shutterstock
MORE FROM:
KEITH J. KELLY
Scout Media, the digital sports media site in Chapter 11 , said it has secured a $9.5 million “stalking horse” bid from CBS to take over its assets.
An auction is set for Jan. 25.
Scout runs team-specific sites for the NFL and major college teams.
It filed for bankruptcy court protection last month after three creditors — LSC Communications (claiming unpaid bills of $671,651), iMatch Services ($81,613) and On Safari Foods ($29,116) — sought to force an involuntary filing.
Scout had tried and failed over the summer and fall to line up new investors. Both employees and vendors were getting paid late.
While the company said in its filing that there should be funds available for unsecured creditors, there may only be pennies on the dollar for them — if that.
Multiplier Capital, a first-lien debtholder that helped finance the initial 2013 buyout from Fox Sports, is owed $10.9 million. It has agreed to provide $6.2 million to keep the company going through an auction.
It has been a bumpy roller coaster ride for a company that forced out founder and CEO James Heckman in July — prompting a walkout by Web producers who claimed in a public letter that a team of Russian investors had grabbed control of the company in a hostile takeover.
The board insisted that Heckman was fired “for cause” — a claim that Heckman disputed.
Scout’s president, Craig Amazeen, is optimistic.
“We continue to move through this process and will have new ownership in place by early February that supports the business, our publishers, customers, employees and other important stakeholders,” Amazeen said.
MORE FROM:
KEITH J. KELLY
Scout Media, the digital sports media site in Chapter 11 , said it has secured a $9.5 million “stalking horse” bid from CBS to take over its assets.
An auction is set for Jan. 25.
Scout runs team-specific sites for the NFL and major college teams.
It filed for bankruptcy court protection last month after three creditors — LSC Communications (claiming unpaid bills of $671,651), iMatch Services ($81,613) and On Safari Foods ($29,116) — sought to force an involuntary filing.
Scout had tried and failed over the summer and fall to line up new investors. Both employees and vendors were getting paid late.
While the company said in its filing that there should be funds available for unsecured creditors, there may only be pennies on the dollar for them — if that.
Multiplier Capital, a first-lien debtholder that helped finance the initial 2013 buyout from Fox Sports, is owed $10.9 million. It has agreed to provide $6.2 million to keep the company going through an auction.
It has been a bumpy roller coaster ride for a company that forced out founder and CEO James Heckman in July — prompting a walkout by Web producers who claimed in a public letter that a team of Russian investors had grabbed control of the company in a hostile takeover.
The board insisted that Heckman was fired “for cause” — a claim that Heckman disputed.
Scout’s president, Craig Amazeen, is optimistic.
“We continue to move through this process and will have new ownership in place by early February that supports the business, our publishers, customers, employees and other important stakeholders,” Amazeen said.
