Redbox’s owner files for bankruptcy after repeatedly missing payments and payroll
Redbox’s owner files for bankruptcy after repeatedly missing payments and payroll

Redbox’s owner files for bankruptcy after repeatedly missing payments and payroll

informed employees of the filing late Friday [...] that it had filed for a debtor-in-possession loan — a way for companies that are reorganizing after filing for bankruptcy to secure additional working capital to meet payroll. [...] employees have been waiting for paychecks since June 21st [...] it’s not certain that the company will be able to secure such a loan.
Chicken Soup took on $325 million in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 and has since been sued over a dozen times over unpaid bills.
Redbox's owner files for bankruptcy after repeatedly missing payments and payroll: The company hasn’t paid employees in over a week and owes money to almost everyone in Hollywood ($970M in debt)
Sad to see this for two reasons:
I don't doubt that rental companies have been squeezed harder and harder on licensing costs specifically to drive them out so the publisher-owned services take over
I'm not sure that was much of an issue for DVD. Historically VHS had those huge licensing terms for new releases ($90 for VHS), but the same rules didn't apply to DVD (new releases $20). This was one of the main reasons VHS rentals died so fast after DVDs came out.
Also at least at one time, I remember Redbox was simply buying DVDs at retail stores instead of buying from retail stores for their disc inventory. I see that Walmart is listed as a creditor. That makes me think perhaps Redbox still was.
One of the few good legal standards around bankruptcy is that unpaid wages to workers are actually, surprisingly paid out of assets prior to investors getting their cut.
I'll agree that's a good thing, but that depends on there being assets (likely in this case), but it also means workers may have to wait months or years before the bankruptcy proceedings are complete. That shouldn't be a burden lower wage workers have to shoulder.