Company News Interplay SHUT DOWN by Labor Department

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Herve Caen; Interplay

According to <A href="http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=98325">this article</a> on <a href="http://www2.ocregister.com/">OC Register</a>, <A href="http://www.interplay.com">Interplay</a> has been <b>shut down</b> by California's labor department as of last night.
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<blockquote>"An employer has responsibilities when they open a business. The responsibilities include proper and timely payment of wages. It includes providing workers compensation coverage in case there are injuries. If the employer cannot accommodate those basic issues of doing business, we cannot allow employees to work," Fryer said.
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Interplay is facing eviction from its landlord, Arden Realty, which hasn’t received a rent payment on the 81,000-square-foot space since January. Interplay, which has said it will run out of money by July, also owes $179,000 in payroll taxes and penalties, according to regulatory filings.
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Herve Caen, Interplay’s CEO, said the company plans to reinstate its workers comp as soon as possible.
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"The company has not shut down. (The state) can’t do that. It can only let me not let employees work," said Caen, adding that Interplay will move to a smaller office in mid-June. "I hope to have that (insurance) back by Monday or Tuesday." </blockquote>
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So, there's a difference between having no employees working and being shut down?
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Thanks, <b>Briosafreak</b>, formerly of <a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com">NMA</a>.

 

[Ausir]

He has no employees, but he can still work on his new, exciting console project alone (part of his plan of course).

 

[Anonymous]

In his house, the 'new office'. Who the hell does he think he's fooling? And what is the point of trying to fight the Grim Reaper of Videogames(tm)? All it'll do is drive him further into debt.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, let's see.. IPLY owes:

• Arden Reality: $750,000 in back rent since it hasn't paid rent since January.
  
• California $179,000 for overdue taxes and penalties and $79,000 in the recent fine for not paying employees.

Just between those two, that's over a million bucks right there. They also owe BioWare royalties on the Baldur's Gate sales, Atari on the D&D royalties, back pay for the employees, ... Anything else?

They were $13M in debt at the end of 2003, IIRC. The company is only worth about $4.441M in stock value.

So, basically, the owe more now than ever, have a huge chunk of debt, and not much in the way of equity for the company.

 

[EEVIAC]

Herve will get more money for Interplay if he sells in the first week of August, I'm certain of it.

 

[Dan]

Herve will get more money for Interplay if he sells in the first week of August, I'm certain of it.

Which would make my bet correct... Go august!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Company's gonna die and Herve's gonna fry.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Don't forget about the US$5 Million they still owe Vivendi. I believe (I might be wrong) that they initially owed Vivendi-Universal roughly US$10 Million in dollars but paid half of it off with the sale of Galleon. I believe that they also owe a certain amount of royalties to the developers of Freelancer II for their European and International sales.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I still wanna know how much Herve Caen is actually worth.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

That gamespot guy that reported ths stuff is a little off on his reporting of some things:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04 ... 00019.html

$432,000 in unpaid rent it owes its landlord, Arden Realty, who is reportedly on the verge of evicting the company.

At ~$150,000/month, for five months, that's ~$750,000. January was the last month they paid.

As of part of its mid-April financial statements, Interplay declared it only had $1.2 million in cash on hand.

That report posted in mid-April was for Q4 2003. There's no telling how little they have on hand because they're way, way late on the Q1 2004 listing, in which they were supposed to report on their earnings up through the end of March.

In addition, it is being sued for $156,000 in back Baldur's Gate royalties by BioWare.

Not sure if this number is correct. If it is, then Interplay owes ~$1.2M to the state of California, BioWare, and Arden alone.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Do disgruntled fans get to sue Interplay as well, just for the fun of it?