made me laugh
Ghostbusters File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Peter Venkman, CEO of the the troubled Ghostbusters Corporation, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Shares were halted earlier in the day pending the news, which was widely expected.
The stock, which hit a 52-week high of $62.38 in September 1987, closed at 17 cents Tuesday.
"I can tell the shareholders that bustin' makes me feel good, but that doesn't alter the fact that we've had real trouble finding investment, " Mr Venkman said at a press conference today. "Chapter 11 means we can continue to provide services and fulfil long term Ghostbusting contracts, whilst streamlining our operations."
Although Ghostbusters is one of the leaders in the sector, it hasn't had that much other business to fall back on, as opposed to competitors like Van Helsing who have branched into the vampire hunting and computer software sectors. Even so, investors still expressed interest in the stock, saying the company could at least be a takeover target.
More sceptical analysts have suggested that the company, founded by Venkman and two University colleagues in 1985, shut off its own source of revenue by defeating Zuul, an evil Zoroastrian deity, within six months of startup.
"It's bad business practice," says Seb Macmillan of Merrill Lynch. "Without evil deities, there are fewer everyday ghosts. Just as with the mobile phone market, saturation point for services was reached very quickly and decline was inevitable."
Ghostbusters posted a $583.4 million, or $1.05 per share, loss for the second quarter, about 100 times more than its loss in the year-ago quarter. In June, the company revealed it was spending money faster than previously thought, sending its stock plunging. This was partly blamed on an increase in the price of parts for ghost traps and proton packs, manufactured in Taiwan, and adverse publicity resulting from the much publicised Real Ghostbusters court case in 1999.
