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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Drew Curtis)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 09:55:01 2001
I've been rolling this around in my head for a few days now, and figured
I'd post to the list.

I've owned my own business for five years and have extensive experience
in negotiations and acquisitions. I've been through three separate
buyouts/mergers in the past two years. Two failed, one succeeded.

The way FASA is shutting down gives some clues as to what's going on
behind the scenes. The first and largest clue is they didn't file for
bankruptcy. What this tells me is that FASA wasn't running a huge
deficit. Or even a small one. The only reason I can think of to do a
shutdown this way is to be able to divvy up whatever assets are left
amongst shareholders after all other debts are paid.

I've done this myself just once. We had a consulting company attached to
my internet company for a few years that we closed down. We didn't file
Chapter 11 because once all the debts were paid there was going to be
money still left in the account. Which we divided up and closed the
doors.

Where I'm going with this is that based on the above speculation I can
think of only two reasons why FASA is being shut down.

1) FASA wasn't in debt but looked like it was heading that way
2) The owner(s) just got tired of running the company and decided to
close it.

As I understand it, the head guy at FASA has a background in publishing,
not roleplaying games. I'd lean towards #2 if I had to take a guess at
what happened. #1 is a fairly extreme action, as you can run a company
for years not making any money if you really want to keep the lights on.
Especially one in business for 20 years, which shouldn't have any trouble
securing additional financing in either senior debt, mezzanine debt, or
equity sale.

To sum up: I think the owner is interested in pulling his money out of
FASA and putting it elsewhere.

Drew Curtis President DCR.NET (502)226-3376 Toll Free: (866)4DCRNET
Local Internet access: Frankfort Lawrenceburg Shelbyville Owenton
Louisville Lexington Versailles Nicholasville Midway Georgetown

http://www.fark.com: If it's not news, it's fark.
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 21:20:01 2001
>Where I'm going with this is that based on the above speculation I can
>think of only two reasons why FASA is being shut down.
>
>1) FASA wasn't in debt but looked like it was heading that way

That much is basically public knowledge. They have been on the border of
unmanagalkbe debt many times- the most recent time was two or so years ago
when they layed off the majority of staff. What saved them that time was
selling FASA IT to Microsoft. That gave them a cash reserve, but did not
fix cash flow problems.

>2) The owner(s) just got tired of running the company and decided to
>close it.

Well, several top level people did leave in the last year, generally for
reasons that seemed to amount to "not getting what they wanted out of the
job". FASA was considering sale to Decipher only a year ago, so either they
needed the money or wanted out of the bussiness, or both

>As I understand it, the head guy at FASA has a background in publishing,
>not roleplaying games. I'd lean towards #2 if I had to take a guess at
>what happened. #1 is a fairly extreme action, as you can run a company
>for years not making any money if you really want to keep the lights on.
>Especially one in business for 20 years, which shouldn't have any trouble
>securing additional financing in either senior debt, mezzanine debt, or
>equity sale.

I have no idea what those are, but I doubt that, in light of recent industry
instability, game publishers are exactly prime creditors or easy to sell
equity in. I honestly do expect that FASA played thier credit out to the
point where, if it was not unmanageable, it was not something the owners
WANTED to manage. x

>To sum up: I think the owner is interested in pulling his money out of
>FASA and putting it elsewhere.

Well, retirement seems one obvious option. Morts not a young man.

-Sebastian
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Drew Curtis)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 22:10:02 2001
On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Sebastian Wiers wrote:

> I have no idea what those are, but I doubt that, in light of recent industry
> instability, game publishers are exactly prime creditors or easy to sell
> equity in. I honestly do expect that FASA played thier credit out to the
> point where, if it was not unmanageable, it was not something the owners
> WANTED to manage. x
>
That's exactly my point. IF they were having serious debt problems, they
would have filed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. They didn't do this.
This means they don't require protection, which likely means that after
the closure is over there will be some assets left to divide.

But if there are assets left to divide then why close? Unless you're
tired, bored, and/or annoyed

Drew Curtis President DCR.NET (502)226-3376 Toll Free: (866)4DCRNET
Local Internet access: Frankfort Lawrenceburg Shelbyville Owenton
Louisville Lexington Versailles Nicholasville Midway Georgetown

http://www.fark.com: If it's not news, it's fark.
Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrn@*********.com)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 22:25:00 2001
In a message dated 1/29/01 9:38:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
m0ng005e@*****.com writes:

> Well, retirement seems one obvious option. Morts not a young man.

How old is he, anyway? From what I've heard over time, he's maybe 60-70 years
old?

John
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Mark Imbriaco)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 22:45:02 2001
On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Drew Curtis wrote:

> That's exactly my point. IF they were having serious debt problems, they
> would have filed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. They didn't do this.
> This means they don't require protection, which likely means that after
> the closure is over there will be some assets left to divide.
>
> But if there are assets left to divide then why close? Unless you're
> tired, bored, and/or annoyed

Or losing money and depleting cash reserves. You might want to call it
quits while there IS still something to be divided. Just because they had
cash left and no serious debt doesn't mean that they were profitable
currently.

-Mark

--
"The big question is whether the planet will disappear in the twinkling of
an eye. It is astonishingly unlikely that there is any risk - but I could
not prove it." - John Nelson
Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Steve Collins)
Subject: FASA shutdown is weird
Date: Mon Jan 29 23:40:01 2001
On 1/29/01 10:37 pm, DemonPenta@***.com said:

>In a message dated 1/29/01 9:38:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>m0ng005e@*****.com writes:
>
>> Well, retirement seems one obvious option. Morts not a young man.
>
>How old is he, anyway? From what I've heard over time, he's maybe 60-70
>years
>old?
>
>John
>

Well he'd have to be in his 60's at least, when FASA was started about 20
years ago he was old enough to have a kid old enough to be a Line
Developer. Figure a minimum of 40 in 1980 would put him at a minimum of
61 now. If I had to guess he'd be about 10 years older than that.

I also agree with the idea that he and the rest of the management team
probably just got tired and wanted out. They were probably doing well
enough tso that they could have gone for ever just about where they are
today, making an accounting profit but taking an economic loss (ie. they
were in the black but not by as much as they would have been had they put
their efforts into something else). But there was no one willing to take
over for them and let them step down so they just closed up shop. That is
the only explanation that really makes sense given that they did not need
to file for Chapter 7, 11, or 13.

Steve

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