Gencon Declares Bankruptcy

[Matt Gwinn]

I was just watching G4 and they said Gencon llc is declaring bankruptcy.
Anyone else hear about this?  Any idea how it's going to effect future conventions?

Apparently they owe Lucas films a bunch of money.

[iago]

In my former life as a dot-commer, I've been through at least one chapter 11 experience (GenCon filed under chapter 11) with a company (that managed to come out of it).  It's important to realize that everyone in the situation has a particular role to play: the creditors need to be as aggressive as possible in seeking their interests, the debtor needs to offer at least *something* up to show good faith, and the judge(s) overseeing the matter gets to play mediator, making sure the debtor isn't destroyed by the process, but that the creditors aren't screwed by the debtor's current inability to pay up.

It also takes way longer than you'd ever expect it to.  But the important thing to know is that, aside from avoiding unnecessary expenses, as the debtor the day to day stuff can seem pretty unaffected, at least on the ground.  Sometimes it's even fantastically positive for the debtor, allowing them to restructure their business in a way that introduces new efficiencies that'll help them avoid a replay of this unhappy event in the future.

That said, there's always a chance that a company won't make it out of chapter 11.  Personally, given the strength of the GenCon brand, I don't think that's going to happen, here.  They'll just need to focus on making the events they do run as lucrative as possible, going forward, so they can continue to fund some of those aforementioned good-faith efforts for their creditors.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The key information about this is all available: the scary one,
GenCon announcement, and Peter's letter which shows that it's not so scary.* The word "bankruptcy" is sparking rumors and fears all 'round our subculture, I'm sure, but what's happening with GenCon is no big deal.

Basically, the Star Wars con lost money, but the GenCon con is doing fine, and GenCon LLC is paying off the debts for the first one over time.

Best, Ron

* I linked to the first that popped up from searching; I received the same letter originally through a publisher mailing list.