Image: MCV
Well looks like the rumors of
Midway being bid on by Warner Brothers were true.
Official word from Midway today that they have accepted a
Stalking Horse bid of $33 million USD on the company by Warner Brothers. This would be the starting the bidding process for the sale of the company's assets. This doesn't mean Warner Brothers has purchased Midway, just means that
they are the initial bidder in a auction that will go on over the next few months once bidding is started by the bankruptcy court. Also of note, their bid is $3M higher than the
$30M that Midway estimated. We wouldn't be surprised if the final sale price is over the $33 million bid once the auction is closed.
It's unclear what is part of the sale, but it's for sure the
Mortal Kombat franchise along with most of the company's US assets, including their Chicago offices. It does exclude a few parts things like the
San Diego and UK studios along with the
TNA Impact franchises. But I'd assume all their IP, including those gained from the purchase of Atari Games is included. Here is what the press release had to say about that.
Company's U.S. assets including its Mortal Kombat franchise and its development studios in Chicago and Seattle for a purchase price of $33,000,000, subject to adjustment as of the closing for changes in inventory, plus the agreed value of the Company's U.S. account receivables. The agreement does not include the Company’s development studio in San Diego and the TNA franchise games, nor does it include the Company’s development studio in Newcastle which had developed the Company's recently released Wheelman game.
You can
read more details in the press release here. We will update as we learn more.
Updated 5/28/2009
Midway released a
press release today detailing the time frame of the bidding process. All the bidding will take place in June, and a winning bidder will be chosen in early July. After which the sale will probably take some time to close and finalize, so the next two months will be very interesting indeed. But it sounds like development of
Mortal Kombat 9 will likely continue under the new ownership.
Midway recently announced a "stalking horse" asset purchase agreement, which is expected to receive court approval, subject to higher or better bids, in a hearing on June 2, 2009. Following this hearing, there will be a period during which Midway, through its financial advisor, Lazard, will accept binding offers up to June 24th, 2009, to acquire some or all of the Company's assets. An auction will be held on June 29th to determine the bid or combination of bids that achieves the highest value, followed by a court hearing to approve the sale to the winning bidder or bidders on July 1st, and then a final closing. All bids must comply with the bid procedures order to be issued at the hearing on June 2, 2009.
