Midway owes millions to Epic, NBA, Warner Bros and many more

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 13th 2009 at 5:59PM }

GamePolitics went digging through Midway's Chapter 11 bankruptcy records and found the company has $281 million in liabilities, with only $167 million in assets. The real eye opener, however, is the list of Midway's top 30 creditors. Just a small sampling:

Wells Fargo Bank - $150,000,000
National Amusements, Inc. - $20,147,864 (Which most recently paid the manufacturing costs of Midway's holiday lineup.)
NBA Properties, Inc. - $17,294,849 (Licensing and royalty fees)
Warner Bros. Interactive - $6,654,203
Epic Games - $1,975,000 (Licensing and royalty fees -- perhaps for for Unreal Tournament?)

The list goes on, check out the full roll at GamePolitics. Although there's a lot to snicker about in the full list, nothing really beats the $300,000 in severance pay to former CEO David Zucker -- the man who helped run the company into the ground. Then again, a lot of execs got rich at Midway while the company fell apart.

Tags: bankruptcy, creditor, david-zucker, gamepolitics, midway

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Woz @ Feb 13th 2009 6:25PM

I think the problem is they owe Best Buy and Wal Mart each over a million dollars. They are suppose to sell, not buy, product

hawk @ Feb 13th 2009 9:29PM

Money owed to retailers probably has a lot to do with advertising and product placement.

Alistair loveless @ Feb 13th 2009 6:54PM

You know a wise man once told me

" You can't polish a Turd"

and i can't think of any other proverb from John (the guitarist not deciple) that fits better

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Feb 13th 2009 8:58PM

Um what?

lanis @ Feb 13th 2009 10:57PM

Mythbusters proved that you CAN in fact "polish a turd".

Paviel @ Feb 13th 2009 11:03PM

Yeah. Dung beetles do it all the time.

Neuromancer @ Feb 13th 2009 6:58PM

Reminds me of Michael Scott

"I.. declare... BANKRUPTCY!!!"

juju187 @ Feb 13th 2009 7:29PM

they have used the unreal engine mk vs dc as well....

JAmerican @ Feb 13th 2009 7:39PM

I hope Epic doesn't get a dime. They suck.

Jake B @ Feb 13th 2009 8:09PM

Dang Wells Fargo 150,000,000! Good thing Obama loves banks, they can take the pain.

Phantom @ Feb 13th 2009 8:23PM

This is why the economy is falling apart. You would think the bank would stop lending after 150 mil.

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Feb 13th 2009 9:00PM

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU...

R.I.P Midway,I hope MK team is bought by Capcom.

sweethavok @ Feb 13th 2009 10:09PM

Hey I have an idea since Obama is bailing out just about anything the Government should bail out Midway. I mean its only 281 milliion after all, but you know what, what lets just round it up to a cool 300 million, its only money after all. I'm pretty sure they can sneak it in without anyone noticing or saying much about it. After all they put in 20 million in the stimulus bill so scientist can research the Salt marsh mouse! (in California) Hows that for creating jobs for you?

Phantom @ Feb 13th 2009 10:21PM

I don't know, after seeing how badly Midway messed up , it looks like they're part of the problem.

Would you pay the Nazi's for the sake of making games about WW2?

Nein_Sporg @ Feb 13th 2009 10:11PM

This is a good example of why free market capitalism doesn't work.

CEOs get millions of dollars, banks keep giving out massive loans, no one is held personally responsible when billions of dollars suddenly evaporate and the people who caused the problems are living it up.

Success in capitalism isn't based on hard work or innovation, it's based on running a good scam, and having friends that will help keep you out of trouble.

sweethavok @ Feb 13th 2009 10:31PM

You do have a point. Not that I totally agree with you. Capitlism most often works very well. Granted things got out of hand in the US due to many things like greed, stupidity, and the government. I do not put all the blame on the Republicans, they share of blame as well, I blame the Democrats as well. Members of Congress, Senate, and activist groups like ACORN pressured banks to make riskier loans than they would have liked. America is a strong, proud, and very charitable nation, something you do not hear so much about from socialist countries that much.

Puleez @ Feb 14th 2009 7:24PM

@sweethavok:

If it was banks giving out bad loans then it's their own fault for giving in to greed/pressure. I've never known a bank that wasn't shrewd with its money.

Anyways, the situation is more complicated than blaming ACORN. The Republicans love bashing ACORN and the Clinton administration. I recall Bush backing a home ownership initiative too. You are correct in blaming so many entities. I would also blame the banks (and the rest of the financial community) too.

Hey, let's just blame love of money!