Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh Breaks Silence, Points Fingers in Emotional Post ... - Hollywood Reporter
Relativity Media, with assets of $560 million but liabilities of a whopping $1. 18 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection in New York. Since May, when more than $330 million in outstanding debt came due, Kavanaugh, 40, the Los Angeles-born wheeler-dealer who co-founded the film and TV company in 2004, had been working furiously to bring in new investors and forestall a default. Many in Hollywood have been predicting Kavanaugh's downfall for years: After starting his first company at 22 (it failed), he'd secured a foothold in the movie business in the mid-2000s by bringing in financing to back $500 million-plus studio... And when Relativity started making and releasing its own movies in 2010, even though Kavanaugh claimed to be reinventing the business with a set of algorithms that minimized risks, many predicted he would fall flat. By early July, Kavanaugh thought he had found a reprieve when Bay Area fund VII Peaks Capital said it was investing "significant equity" in Relativity and Toronto-based Catalyst Capital Group agreed to buy $130 million in senior debt. Kavanaugh also claims Catalyst promised to make an equity investment of $170 million, though that's when his troubles really started. A few weeks later, Kavanaugh had run out of time and Relativity sought Chapter 11 protection. Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com
