Billy Corgan's $1.8M Due on November 1

[johnbragg]

Billy Corgan was supposed to get paid his money yesterday. Or maybe he did get paid yesterday. Or, maybe they offered him the money and he refused.

Why would he refuse the money?

1. Corgan's agreement with Dixie Carter/TNA said that if TNA sold to someone besides Billy Corgan during the term of the loan, Corgan is entitled to an extra 50%. Anthem is offering him his $1.8M back, but NOT offering to pay the extra 50%. I'm pretty sure that Corgan's position is that Anthem and TNA have agreed on a sale, which is not being announced so that they don't have to pay him the extra $900,000.

2. Anthem had already offered to pay Corgan the $1.8M, but Corgan would have to sign a waiver of further claims against TNA and whoever else. Corgan refused.

3. Corgan on Monday and Tuesday was tweeting like someone who planned to continue their court case. It sounds like he's expecting to win his lawsuit--someday--and collect a $2.7M judgement. (IANAL, but I think he's risking Anthem putting TNA through Chapter 11 between now and then. OTOH, maybe Corgan would be able to win in Chapter 11 by paying the creditors in full).

 

[GhettoV1]

Or waiting until Friday or Monday to cash in his 36% extra TNA stock

 

[johnbragg]

Or waiting until Friday or Monday to cash in his 36% extra TNA stock

He might do that, but I'd advise against it and I think any lawyer or accountant or whatever would to. You really, really don't want 36% ownership of an insolvent company with mountains of debt run by people without a clue how to turn things around.

 

[My Couch Pulls Out But I Don't]

The only reason to want 36% of this company is if he is expecting the company to get sold.

He would end up with 36% of the total sale (minus the outstanding debts owed to everyone else) and maybe he thinks that would be more than the $1.8 million he is owed.

 

[johnbragg]

The only reason to want 36% of this company is if he is expecting the company to get sold.

He would end up with 36% of the total sale (minus the outstanding debts owed to everyone else) and maybe he thinks that would be more than the $1.8 million he is owed.

The part in bold is the problem. Anthem is probably looking at a transaction where they buy TNA for a nominal price of $4-5M, including assuming all liabilities--$1.8M to Corgan, $1.8M to Aroluxe, $250,000 or so apiece to Audience of One, American Express and BankDirect, plus back pay for the wrestlers, other unpaid vendors we don't (yet) know about), leaving about a buck fifty for Dixie Carter--or a dollar for Dixie and fifty cents for Corgan, if he claims his 35% ownership stake.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I don't see why he would need the 1.8 million, the guy has 50 million, he is rich, he helped Dixie to get involved in wrestling, it was never about the money. I bet he wants to get involved still. I say get the 36% and stay on as Creative Chief.

 

[sikkbones]

What if this whole corgan drama is just cover for something bigger?

Like a Vince McMahon supported corporate takeover?

Why wouldn't Vince just buy everything tho?

 

[johnbragg]

I don't see why he would need the 1.8 million, the guy has 50 million, he is rich, he helped Dixie to get involved in wrestling, it was never about the money. I bet he wants to get involved still. I say get the 36% and stay on as Creative Chief.

He doesn't "need" the $1.8M, but if he's not going to control TNA, he wants it back. "Get the 36% and stay on as Creative Chief" doesn't work (AFAIK) because Anthem and Dixie and Aroluxe hate his guts now. 36% of the stock gives you about as much power as Mitt Romney's 47% of the vote got him over the last four years.

(OF course, maybe after Anthem takes over, they "turn face", betray Dixie Carter and bring back Corgan. But probably not.)

What if this whole corgan drama is just cover for something bigger?

Like a Vince McMahon supported corporate takeover?

Why wouldn't Vince just buy everything tho?

The only TNA asset Vince would be interested in is the tape library, which seems to be mortgaged to Anthem. WWE already has most of TNA's talent, and anyone else that they want can probably claim that their contract was breached when they weren't paid.

The POPtv deal is useless to WWE, they have an exclusive agreement with NBC ComcastUniversal or whoever it is now. The only other TNA TV deal worth two nickels is SonySix, and WWE already has Indian distribution on a channel now owned by the owners of SonySix.

There's no house show business. There's no merchandising. There's no revenue apart from a handful of TV deals, one of which just evaporated and one of which (POPtv) apparently doesn't produce any revenue (ad-split, and no one wants to buy ads on Impact).

So Vince is going to have to wait out Anthem and Fight Network to get TNA's tape library. On the other hand, if and when he buys out Fight Network, he gets a bunch of footage from a bunch of indies.

 

[Navi]

I don't see why he would need the 1.8 million, the guy has 50 million, he is rich, he helped Dixie to get involved in wrestling, it was never about the money. I bet he wants to get involved still. I say get the 36% and stay on as Creative Chief.

Who doesn't need 1.8 million dollars? I'll take it in a heartbeat. Besides he didn't get rich by lending out millions and not wanting it back. As much as I think he would be a good bet to take over TNA, he is being incredibly idiotic here if he refuses the money.

It's already been reported that his lawsuit has no merit, so my advice would be take his money and run as far away as he can from Dixie and Anthem. Dixie Carter took 1.8 million from him and screwed him over, who's to say she won't do that to Anthem. Thereby leaving Corgan with nothing.

You hear all the time about celebrities who have made millions and pissed it all away ending up bankrupt. He just doesn't sound to me like that type of person, but hey making decisions like this you never know.

 

[johnbragg]

Who doesn't need 1.8 million dollars? I'll take it in a heartbeat. Besides he didn't get rich by lending out millions and not wanting it back. As much as I think he would be a good bet to take over TNA, he is being incredibly idiotic here if he refuses the money.

It's already been reported that his lawsuit has no merit, so my advice would be take his money and run as far away as he can from Dixie and Anthem. Dixie Carter took 1.8 million from him and screwed him over, who's to say she won't do that to Anthem. Thereby leaving Corgan with nothing.

Well, I think he's claiming that the sale of TNA to Anthem has already been agreed upon, so he's owed another $900,000 on top of the $1.8M. Which Anthem isn't interested in paying. Plus TNA and Anthem want a final-settlement-of-claims from Corgan, which he isn't interested in signing (at least not without the $900,000 kicker.)

 

[stingray11214]

So Vince is going to have to wait out Anthem and Fight Network to get TNA's tape library. On the other hand, if and when he buys out Fight Network, he gets a bunch of footage from a bunch of indies.

That would be like the guppy swallowing the striped bass. Anthem can swallow WWE whole.

 

[johnbragg]

That would be like the guppy swallowing the striped bass. Anthem can swallow WWE whole.

That seems unlikely. Right now WWE has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion dollars. Anthem's owner Leonard Asper's old company CanWest Global was worth many billions, but they had borrowed those billions to buy assets and they lost everything. At what my quick googling looks to me like the bottom of the family's fortunes, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ reported the family's wealth at $100M. That's the family, Leonard Asper and a couple of siblings--I don't know if he's still managing the sibling's money or not. And it's pretty likely his net worth has bounced back from 2009, but if you think Anthem is bigger than WWE, I'd like to see some evidence of that.

 

[sikkbones]

Last bi checked didn't Vince have a substantial interest in Sportsnet Canada?

 

[Navi]

Last bi checked didn't Vince have a substantial interest in Sportsnet Canada?

Sportsnet is owned by Rogers Communications, so also own the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), the Toronto Blue Jays, a majority share of the Toronto Maple Leafs and God only knows what else. They are one of the most profitable communication companies here in Canada and were the first of offer the WWE Network. They are the ones who broadcast RAW and SD here in Southern Ontario.

As far as I know they are owned or were owned by the Rogers family, who are worth about 7 or 8 billion dollars. Vince McMahon might have had a sweetheart deal with Rogers Communications, but as far as I know he has nothing to do with the company or the family, and holds no shares in the Rogers Communications. Even if he did, they would be minority shares and he would have the same voting rights as any other minority shareholder.

 

[Navi]

Well he still hasn't been paid. The New York Post has picked up the story, and now TNA said he will get his money when he ask's for it. This is a new low even for TNA. I thought a judge decreed that he should get his money back, and Anthem is prepared to pay him. If I was Anthem I would be backing out of this deal with Dixie Carter and leaving her to pick up the pieces herself. What a piece of shit she is.

 

[GhettoV1]

At least today is Friday and no one else didn't sue TNA.

 

[johnbragg]

Well he still hasn't been paid. The New York Post has picked up the story, and now TNA said he will get his money when he ask's for it. This is a new low even for TNA. I thought a judge decreed that he should get his money back, and Anthem is prepared to pay him. If I was Anthem I would be backing out of this deal with Dixie Carter and leaving her to pick up the pieces herself. What a piece of shit she is.

The judge didn't order or decree that Corgan get his money, but it's also assumed in legal proceeedings that you'll pay debts you agree to. Especially when you say in court you're prepared to pay it.

"He didn't ask for it" is a smokescreen--Anthem's offer to pay off Corgan's loan has a condition, Corgan releasing TNA (and Anthem) from all future claims, and Corgan isn't willing to do that.

I just how had another thought--possibly Anthem is funding TNA rather than actually buying them in order to insulate themselves from injured wrestler lawsuits like Daffney's. In other words if a TNA wrestler breaks their neck, they can't sue Anthem (which actually has money), only TNA (which doesn't).

 

[Navi]

The judge didn't order or decree that Corgan get his money, but it's also assumed in legal proceeedings that you'll pay debts you agree to. Especially when you say in court you're prepared to pay it.

"He didn't ask for it" is a smokescreen--Anthem's offer to pay off Corgan's loan has a condition, Corgan releasing TNA (and Anthem) from all future claims, and Corgan isn't willing to do that.

I just how had another thought--possibly Anthem is funding TNA rather than actually buying them in order to insulate themselves from injured wrestler lawsuits like Daffney's. In other words if a TNA wrestler breaks their neck, they can't sue Anthem (which actually has money), only TNA (which doesn't).

Well I thought that the judge decided that Corgan's case for taking over TNA had no merit so he dismissed that part of it. But I also believe that it was stated in court that TNA would pay him back his money by November 1st. The only part of the payment that was in dispute was the extra 50% he was claiming, but the original 1.8m was never disputed.

The way I see it is that in a way Anthem did buy them by offering to fund them, but it was structured in a way that they can say they didn't. If that makes any sense. What you say about wrestlers bringing lawsuits is most likely also true. Dixie Carter has managed to keep TNA funded but managed to make it so that she can deflect any blame that comes her way. Anyway you cut it, she is still a piece of shit for what she is doing to people.

 

[johnbragg]

Well I thought that the judge decided that Corgan's case for taking over TNA had no merit so he dismissed that part of it. But I also believe that it was stated in court that TNA would pay him back his money by November 1st.

Right. But it's not TNA or Anthem being in violation of a court order or court decision, it would be perjury, except that I think they said it in a weaselly way "we are fully prepared to, and have offered Corgan full payment" or whatever, when the previous offer to Corgan included the waiver of claims).

The way I see it is that in a way Anthem did buy them by offering to fund them, but it was structured in a way that they can say they didn't. If that makes any sense.

That's probably the next phase of the court case, determining what the TNA-Anthem agreement was, and having the judge or jury rule on whether it constitutes a disguised sale or not.

 

[rmp0012002]

Since Anthem has controlling shares that would make them an owner and not just a silent partner/financier. In my eyes that would make all the shareholders liable in an injury suit. It will be interesting how this Anthem/TNA deal is broken down and see who owes what and who took responsibility for the debts.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Here is the time where we see the house of cards fall... everything on TNA right now seems to be a gamble... Anthem are gambling that Corgan will either accept less to just end it or they can string it out and not pay until such time as they can secure some more funding... Corgan is playing it smart, he's controling the conversation... making Anthem "react" and state publicly he'll be paid... that makes it hard for them to backtrack and plays into his hands.

The reality is that there is so little true equity in TNA that repaying Corgan the 50% fee, which I would say on balance probably should be paid...would finish them...

It's literally a game of poker... both sides bluffing till one folds... Personally if I was a TNA talent, I'd be looking closely at my contract for any way out of it...

 

[johnbragg]

Here is the time where we see the house of cards fall... everything on TNA right now seems to be a gamble... Anthem are gambling that Corgan will either accept less to just end it or they can string it out and not pay until such time as they can secure some more funding...

Anthem doesn't need to secure funding--Anthem IS the funding.

Corgan is playing it smart, he's controling the conversation... making Anthem "react" and state publicly he'll be paid... that makes it hard for them to backtrack and plays into his hands.

Ehh, Corgan will get paid, eventually. He'll get his $1.8M back.

The reality is that there is so little true equity in TNA that repaying Corgan the 50% fee, which I would say on balance probably should be paid...would finish them...

The court will decide whether Anthem agreeing to refinance TNA's/Impact's debts and cover their losses and appoint their EVP to Impact's board is a sale or not. I haven't seen the document Corgan produced that said Anthem 92.5%, Aroluxe 2.5%, so I have no idea if the publicly announced arrangement comes close.

TNA doesn't have to worry about not being able to pay Corgan the extra $900,000--that's Anthem's problem. Without Anthem, TNA can't pay anybody anything, and doesn't, which is why they're getting sued left and right.

It's literally a game of poker... both sides bluffing till one folds... Personally if I was a TNA talent, I'd be looking closely at my contract for any way out of it...

Getting out of your TNA contract probably doesn't help you, since if you had other options you wouldn't still be in TNA.