Midway Games sold for USD 100,000

By Robert Purchese Published 1 December, 2008

Debt-riddled owner flogs shares.

Sumner Redstone has sold his controlling stake of Midway Games for a paltry USD 100,000 (GBP 66,718 / EUR 79,241), or just USD 0.0012 per share.

That 87 per cent will be bought by private investor Mark Thomas, in a deal the Wall Street Journal said will be officially announced today, according to Media Memo.

That same stake was apparently worth around USD 30 million on Friday, and Thomas will also assume Midway's chunky USD 70 million in debt as part of the deal.

Redstone was said to have sold Midway Games to ease his company's - National Amusements' - whopping USD 1.6 billion in debt. Half of that has to be paid back by the end of 2008, apparently, which is just 30 days away.

Midway Games has had a tough year, cancelling unannounced projects, laying off staff and facing the constant threat of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.

The videogame company will look to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe to ease many of its troubles, although critics appear to have been less than bowled over so far.

Our thoughts on Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe will pop up later this week.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rhinoxious #1 3 years ago

    Strange, these nominal compnay sales usually go for a dollar or a pound - maybe Sumner needed some pocket money.

    On a similar note we had an office whip-round to raise £1 to buy woolworths last week, till we realised it cmae with 270 million of debts! We only wanted it for the pick n' mix anyway.

  • Triggerhappytel #2 3 years ago

    Unsurprising - I always thought Midway (or Atari) would be the next publisher to go down the toilet. They seemed to have a resurgence about four years ago or so, but that was really short-lived. They were just buckling under the weight of shit.

    Hopefully this guy can do a Riccotellio on them and turn things around.

  • insincere_dave #3 3 years ago

    This Zombie needs a double-barrelled shotgun blast in the face to finish it off.

  • Dark_Era #4 3 years ago

    ahhhh amd they said that the global economic crisis wouldn't affect the gaming industry, might wanna change that now, lol

  • dingo75 #5 3 years ago

    "Fatality"

  • Sir_TimAlot #6 3 years ago

    I wish someone would lend me USD 70 Million!

  • muscleblade #7 3 years ago

    MK VS DCU has a metacritic average of 76%. Thats very good for this kind of game imo. Its up there with Mirrors Edge, Banjo, TR:Underworld. This is the best Mortal Kombat game for many years according to most reviewers. Im getting it as soon as im done with all the games im currently playing.

  • hoster #8 3 years ago

    havn't brough a Midway game in 3 generations..still bit of a shame if they went. Bit like Woolworths really :p

  • Sir_TimAlot #9 3 years ago

    not quite their "Hour of Victory" hahahahahaha
    oh wait i played that game so i guess the jokes on me

  • layleeloo #10 3 years ago

    Dingo75 - "Fatality".

    Hhahahhahahahh LMAO. Its not nice to know of people of companies goig bump - but that did make me chuckle mate.

  • Eraysor #11 3 years ago

    I only hope that the Unreal franchise can get off this sinking ship as soon as possible, and it better not swim over to Activision.

  • TheGoose126 #12 3 years ago

    This is what you get when you turn your back on the mighty Pinball machine!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #13 3 years ago

    I wondered why we hadn't seen any series of The Mark Thomas Product on the telly lately, he's been saving up to buy Midway.

  • Malek86 #14 3 years ago

    30 million dollars worth of shares, sold for 100.000 dollars? I don't know his situations, but I think he might have insisted for a bit more.

  • penhalion #15 3 years ago

    Half of that has to be paid back by the end of 2008, apparently, which is just 30 days away.

    I think you'll find that it is referring to the end of the 2008 financial year.

    edit:Malik86

    it's sold for 70,100,000 but 70,000,000 is in the form of debts owed.
    Edited by 1 at 01/12/08 @ 15:57

  • RedSparrows #16 3 years ago

    Rush 2049 on XBLA before they die plx

  • Redeye #17 3 years ago

    Would you honestly take on $70M worth of debts in order to own Midway?

    Seriously??

    *wonders who would get all the old-school licences if the company went tits*

  • neilka #18 3 years ago

    Mortal Kombat vs Pippa Funnell CONFIRMED

  • Waffleaber #19 3 years ago

    It's at moments like this we should remember the good times.

    Playing Rampage at the fairground.

    2 player NFL Blitz on the Dreamcast.

    Laughing at Kung Lao's friendship on MK3.

    That's it. They were a bit crap really.

  • illusiondance #20 3 years ago

    hmm, well thats the most drawn out process of quality control ever. good riddance.

    (though its a shame about the crew who did the funky strangehold)

  • NinjaWilliams #21 3 years ago

    The Mark Thomas Comedy Product ROCKS!!! :)

  • Dragul #22 3 years ago

    Stranglehold wasn't that bad really...

    Another one to go the way of the dodo soon...

  • mainaman #23 3 years ago

    Too many shitty games for a cuthroat market,it 's inevitable that sooner or later you will be going where your shit goes-the bargain bin,with huge dept that can flush you down the toilet for good.

  • Davemanz #24 3 years ago

    Holy shit, 100 grand? My parents could have bought that shit, what the fuck? Honestly how easy will it be for the buyer to make that much back in an instant?

  • ArchiRag #25 3 years ago

    ^ not very

  • Sean.Aaron #26 3 years ago

    So depressing. My all-time favourite arcade games and pinball machines were made by Williams (long since merged with Midway). What a waste. I can only hope whomever picks it up will still try to flog the classics. The fact that the Midway Treasures collections only came out for the Gamecube in the USA is supremely annoying; I'd love to be able to run Defender and Robotron without resorting to software hacks on my Wii...

  • Subquest #27 3 years ago

    davemanz, your parents would be better advised spending their money buying you ritalin, so that you might read stories in full.

  • shotgun44 #28 3 years ago

    I think some of you need to brush up on your business...

    May have only cost 100,000 in share price but it means that they are now responsible for the 70 million that is owed to the investors etc.

  • spidermanalf #29 3 years ago

    They should realise, everything 'tweeny' is selling buckety loads!

    MK vs High School Musical will sell by the bucket load!

  • Sean.Aaron #30 3 years ago

    "MK vs High School Musical will sell by the bucket load!"

    Shit I'd buy that just to slap those kids around and I don't like Mortal Kombat!

  • Vin #31 3 years ago

    Goddamnit.

  • muscleblade #32 3 years ago

    "Holy shit, 100 grand? My parents could have bought that shit"

    I could have bought it myself. Easily. My apartment is worth 4 times as much.

    edit i thouth it was 1000000 not 100000

    That is cheap.
    Edited by 1 at 02/12/08 @ 11:58

  • kangarootoo #33 3 years ago

    "I could have bought it myself. Easily. My apartment and car is worth almost as much. Damn."

    And where would you live whilst you sat waiting for your failing company to turn around?

  • muscleblade #34 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    I could have rented an apartment in the meantime.

  • TheGoose126 #35 3 years ago

    kangarootoo
    02-Dec-08 09:10:26 "I could have bought it myself. Easily. My apartment and car is worth almost as much. Damn."

    I take it you live in the North!

  • muscleblade #36 3 years ago

    @TheGoose126

    I thouth it was 1000000 not a lousy 100000. My mistake. My apartment is worth about 4 times that amount. I live in Oslo. My Car is worth a little less actually. I could have bouth Midway without selling my apartment. LOL.
    Edited by 2 at 02/12/08 @ 12:01

  • Davemanz #37 3 years ago

    It just seems like even turning some amount of a profit would be relatively easy. Companies don't get sold because they're losing money, typically, they get sold because they're not making enough money. It certainly sounds like Redstone just needed quick cash and Midway was making less than his other companies. I mean honestly, if majority stake in a company is that cheap someone could've just taken out a loan and taken control of it. Midway has a fair amount of franchises to its name, it wouldn't necessarily be hard to just whore those out for dirt cheap and turn a quick profit.

  • Subquest #38 3 years ago

    davemanz - the bit about a $70 million debt? you've seen this right?

  • muscleblade #39 3 years ago

    the bit about a $70 million debt? you've seen this right?

    Thats the reason ive wouldnt have bought it or even taken it over for free.