Hey guys,
So I'm sure you guys are aware of Relativity's painfully slow collapse over the last 6 months and yesterday was the day for Ryan Kavanaugh (CEO/Founder as well as industry douche bag) to finally pay his buddies over at Wall Street. I've been following the company since I entered the industry a little over a year ago and it is surprising to see the collapse of such a well talked about company. Around this time last year, the company was boasting about initiating an IPO and claiming how they were such a strong media group with its hands in almost all forms of entertainment (from film to tv to sport agency to education).
Recent filings show that Relativity owes $1 billion in liabilities with somewhere around $100 million in assets with one analyst claiming that the company is only really worth $150 million (TV and all). Now, if you haven't been following the story you can read this link to get a good overall understanding of which creditor is in line to receive proceeds from a sale of the company's assets and an overall history of Relativity.
link: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/relativity-finan...
What's perhaps the MOST interesting thing in this entire crap shoot is Ryan Kavanaugh being accused of commingling funds and STEALING money from investors that was supposed to go into Print and Advertising (Marketing) for certain films. Many of you may not know, but around town, Kavanaugh was always known to pull out of shit like this for years but this time the cats in New York knew it was different this time and the jig was up from Kavanaugh. The PE and Hedge Funds destroyed his reputation before he could even put up a fight and now the company was given a $9 million dollar loan to support its self until October when a sale is schedule (organized by Blackstone and FGI).
My personal opinion is that Ryan will never get Wall Street money again and even if he tried to rebid for the company the judge would never allow him to control it again in spite of recent fraud accusations
I've never worked on Wall Street so I would love to hear all of your opinions or thoughts on this scum bag and the entertainment business in general.
PS: If you want more links here they are (I'm using variety as they have been following this entire thing for years).
Con-Man Accusation: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/ryan-kavanaugh-l...
Brief timeline: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/relativity-timel...
