Seems the bids for MGM so far have been pretty underwhelming. Unfortunately, I think MGM may continue to feebly limp along for a while longer if this continues:
http://www.mi6.co.uk...d...=mi6&s=news
If MGM’s 140 creditors feel bids are too low, Stephen F. Cooper, a turnaround expert hired as chief executive in August, may need to look for another way to salvage the company.
There are backup options. For instance, Qualia Capital, a private equity fund run by the Hollywood veteran Amir Malin, has floated the idea of converting some of the debt to equity, infusing MGM with about $500 million in cash and keeping it going in a stripped-down form until the market improves.
so if this happens Does this mean they will back bond 23 or not?
If this happens it merely means wiring up the corpse to the socket so it can continue to cough up blood until the market for the parts hopefully brightens up. Doesn't stop the decomposing though, as the odour attests.
So what does this mean for Bond. Economics and accounting are not my strong suits. Does a Decomposing MGm mean bond 23 will happen in 2011 but with a smaller budget?
Nobody will be able to say what it means for Bond 23 for certain right at the moment. But I think a quick-shot Bond with a diet budget is the least likely possibility. I daresay EON will rather make no Bond film at all in 2011 than a rushed half-cock and underfinanced production that's just conceived to save the bacon of MGM's top brass. And frankly, why ever should they?
The situation, in broadest strokes, is something like this:
A formerly successful studio gradually lost most of its artistic drive, its entrepreneurial spirit, ingenuity and creativity. At the same time its board of directors became increasingly delusional, their aspirations and the company's real options slowly growing apart to a point where they just didn't connect at all any more. So far, so bad.
Unfortunately, this studio borrowed large sums of money. Not based on their real potential, but on what the delusional aspirations dictated them. Eventually ending up with a debt that's probably several times what the company is really worth on the market now. And now please for a moment imagine you were one of the creditors. Of course, all Bond fandom clamours for Bond 23 by next Friday, understandable, up to a point. But if we were in the shoes of the creditors we would most likely be fed up with the cheap promises and the series of growingly illusional plans to 'restructure', 'turnaround', 'save', 'reinvent', so on, the company.
As it is now there is a fair chance that, whatever happens with MGM, there will most likely not only be no profit from the credits, but also not a 100 per cent return of the initial sums. The sell out is mostly centered on the Bond/EON franchise. There are other parts of the company that may be interesting, but their value is debatable as their return per year is decreasing recently and will most likely not recover anytime soon, if at all.
The creditors will rightfully not be satisfied by anything else but hard cash in considerable amounts. And this is something that's hard to come by at the moment. The bids for the company were predictably low, as bidders were speculating on a growing sense of desperation on MGM's side, resulting in falling price tags for the desired effects.
When and if this stalemate can be escaped and what will be its results for Bond 23, we shall see. Although it may take longer than we expected and wanted in the first place.
