事件起因：
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/dd_what_does_it_mean/
Digital Domain, what does it all mean?
By Mike Seymour
September 11, 2012
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After weeks if not months of rumors, issues and falling stock prices, ”Digital Domain Media Group, Inc. (NYSE: DDMG) today announced that as part of its previously announced strategic realignment, and to ensure the long-term future of its core business and facilitate a sale of assets, it has filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court.”
What does this mean?
The idea of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection is to give a company time to negotiate with its creditors, since during that time the creditors cannot pursue any debts or claims. The company must file a plan of its reorganization with the bankruptcy court, and the creditors are participants in the bankruptcy proceedings, that is, they can investigate the operations of the company. The creditors must vote on the proposed plan, and the court will review it for feasibility. Then the company must carry out the plan.
If the company’s stock is publicly traded, like DDMG is on the NYSE, the stock will generally be delisted after a Chapter 11 filing has occurred. (If DDMG was listed on the NASDAQ, the letter ‘Q’ would be aded at the end of the stock symbol to indicate the company is in bankruptcy). Usually, delisted stock quickly becomes over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange stocks, and then after a Chapter 11 plan has been confirmed by the court the shares are terminated altogether.
The iconic pirate flag over the Venice home of DD.
To understand what happened today one has to understand the structure of what people loosely refer to as Digital Domain or DD. While DD started as a visual effects company and is known as the company behind such amazing work as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Titanic, Apollo 13 and True Lies, the company DD had morphed into multiple companies in recent years. The part most people think of as DD – is actually Digital Domain Productions Inc (DDPI). It is the core – started in 1993 and the primary provider of these great Oscar winning feature films. If you have visited the DD offices in Venice then this is what you visited. This bit was started by Scott Ross (who ran the company in its glory years) joined by James Cameron and Stan Winston etc, but none of these original players – are owning, running or managing DD now. There is one exception since day one: Ed Ulbrich, a respected actual visual effects expert has been with the company, and he is now central to the story moving forward, but we will return to him in a moment.
In addition to that core there is a DD commercials division. This is lead by Mothership Media Inc, and it focuses on creating advertising, branded content and it was the bit that created the virtual likeness of rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Valley Music Festival.
Then there were some studios elsewhere. In no order, there is a Vancouver production company, Digital Domain Productions (Vancouver) Ltd, San Francisco and Florida.
And Florida is where the story…unravels…so to speak. Above all the companies mentioned is another Digital Domain, called Digital Domain Media Group. This is known as DDMG, and the name is confusing, but it is very much the company that owned all the other bits and wanted to expand into Florida. DDMG owned nine companies but DDMG only ever owned 86.9% of DDP. The remaining 13.1% was owned by various minority shareholders, so for example, as of earlier this year when we wrote about this, Michael Bay is an equity partner in the feature film visual effects company DDP Inc, but is not an equity partner in the broader Digital Domain Media Group.
Digital Domain, Digital Domain Productions and even D2 Software – the birth place of Nuke – are all incorporated in Delaware. But the newer companies are incorporated in Florida. So DDMG, the land holding company DDH Land Holdings I & II (owning property in West Palm Florida), DD International, Tradition Studios (which was producing an animated feature) and DD Tactical are all incorporated in Florida – as is DD Stereo group – which is the re-modelled In-Three (that also owns the patents that have been much in the news lately regarding stereo conversion).
In November of 2010, Digital Domain Media Group (parent company of Digital Domain Productions, Venice) bought the Thousand Oaks, Californian based, In-Three Inc. and announced that it was moving it to Port St. Lucie, Florida, where Digital Domain Media Group DDMG has its HQ. Finally, Mothership is incorporated in California and the Vancouver group is of course a Canadian company.
If you were to use a rule of thumb – the Florida parts and the parent company are now separate from the Delware/Calfornia/Canadian parts. In other words, the core effects ‘business’ that is the DD most people would think of as being DD, is back being the core DD of old – with offices in LA, San Fran and Vancouver. The independent film production, stereo conversion and extra bits are all dead or closing down it would seem and this leaves the last controversial piece of the puzzle – the education arm.
The education arm, the Digital Domain Institute, was a partnership with Florida State University and it appears that while it is still using the name Digital Domain in some capacity – for now – this education unit is now fully a part of FSU, and nothing to do with the effects business or DDPI in California/Vancouver.
Where to from here for DD (DDP, Inc)
Digital Domain, in the DDPI sense, is still open for business. It has great artists still working on great shots. This is important. If all the DDP staff had been let go, it would be almost impossible for the company to ‘restart’ or ‘reboot’.
Ender’s Game: a while ago DDPI took on the role of effectively investing in the film Ender’s Game, it was also the principal effects supplier. This gives DDP an actual ‘blue sky’ opportunity to make some real money if the film goes well.
Mothership (founded in 2010): the commercials division is busy and has done work such as the new Lady Gaga perfume launch, and after the success of “virtual Tupac” is working with CORE media to create and co-own the virtual likeness of Elvis Presley.
Moving? To add to the confusion, even before all this blew up, DDPI at Venice was going to have to move. DD did not own the Venice office, and the landlord leased the space to Google, so DD Venice will soon stop being located in the traditional home or site of the making of everything from Apollo13, Titanic, Star Trek, True Lies and Benjamin Button.
The core DD business is now likely to be sold, and there is one public bid for this section of DD, for US$15M. The sale of DDPI (basically the West Coast operations LA, SF, VC) will be to the winner of an auction to be held on September 21st, baring a court changing that date. There is an offer on table from an investment group – Searchlight Partners Capital for $15 million. There are some articles suggesting Prime Focus may also bid, (but fxguide could not independently confirm this). The Searchlight bid has been called by some, (including in a tweet by former DD’er Scott Ross) a ’Stalking-Horse Bid’. This means that an initial bid is made on a bankrupt company’s assets from an interested buyer chosen by the bankrupt company. From a pool of bidders, the bankrupt company chooses the ‘stalking horse’ to make the first bid. This allows the distressed company to avoid stupidly low bids on its assets. Once the stalking horse has made its bid, other potential buyers may submit competing bids for the bankrupt company’s assets. In essence, the stalking horse sets the bar so that other bidders can’t low-ball the purchase price. It is still a valid bid, but also it sets the floor.
What is really important is to resolve this sale very quickly. Major studio work is currently being done at DDPI and a long sale would run the risk of the studios pulling their work and taking it elsewhere. What needs to happen is for a very fast sale to occur and a stable new DD to emerge, focused just on doing what the rest of the world thinks DD is known for: great visual effects by talented artists. This falls in large part to Ed Ulbrich, and he is a proper visual effects industry asset. Ed Ulbrich spoke in 2009 representing a “team of filmmakers, artists and technologists who’ve been working on a significant breakthrough in visual storytelling — a startling blurring of the line between digital creation and actor”. Ulbrich was the executive VP of production at DD, for whom he’s executive-produced Academy Award-winning visual effects for Titanic, What Dreams May Come, Fight Club, Zodiac, Adaptation and other features, as well as music videos and more than 500 commercials. In 2007, he was named in the Creativity 50 – top innovators in advertising and design. And in 2009 he gave a great TED talk on “How Benjamin Button got his face”.
Ulbrich could very well be the right guy to fight the way back to DD as a leading visual effects company, without the tax credits, state grants, education deals, Florida focus of the last few years. He is bright and respected and – assuming he and the team can act quickly,- the new refocused, cut-back DD stands a chance. But will not be easy. Apart from the the obvious issues of handling the sale, DD will have to work hard to convince new productions and new films that it is stable, without discounting through the floor to win work. Furthermore, DD will have a harder time attracting new key staff.
Finally, this industry is already harsh and running on thin margins, so good companies without any bad press have struggled and failed recently. On a good day DD would still face stiff competition, razor thin margins, relocation fees and a complexity of government and state grants and subsidies – mainly aimed at moving work away from DD’s core Californian base.
The first ”Hearing to Consider the First Day Motions” will be held on September 12, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. ET, in the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.
Law Suits
There are likely to be law suits, in cases such as this it is almost to be expected. One interesting one is for recovering money for those who were let go. Earlier today, according to published reports, Outten & Golden filed suit against “DDMG, Inc., et al., seeking to recover 60 days wages and benefits for former employees under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (“WARN”) Act.
They contend that “DDMG ordered mass layoffs on or about September 7, 2012 at its Port St. Lucie, Florida facility without providing its employees with advance written notice.” The case is pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. (Generally, the WARN Act in the USA requires companies to provide their employees with 60 days written notice in advance of a mass layoff or plant closing. In the absence of such notice, employers may be liable to each affected employee for 60 days wages and benefits).
Will it win? No one knows but it may well not the last Law suit in this matter, not even close.
Who to feel sorry for
There are many people to feel sorry for, and in no order here are a few:
• Employees who lost their jobs – especially those who relocated to Florida
• Students who started training at the for profit DD iInstitute thinking it might lead to a job in Florida. DDI started training formally at the start of this year, so these students have paid real money for an education that is now still valid but far less connected to any chance of employment
• Employees of In-Three who moved when the company was bought
• People including many employees who owned or bought stock in their company, they have seen their investments all but wiped out. At last look we saw the stock was trading at just 9c, from a 52 week high of $9.20. So $20,000 invested in DDMG would now be worth $195, if it was still trading and you could get that. In 10 months some $400 million of shareholder value has been wiped out, and that is before multiple Florida grants and subsidies have been applied
• Tax payers in Florida who have seen a huge amount of public money evaporate in an age of very tight state revenue. (Although some of the land given to DDMG will revert back to the city if DD cant meet its obligations by December 31st, 2012)
• Equipment, vendors and general suppliers left being owed money
• Every day artists who have faced and are facing uncertain times, questions about benefits etc and an unclear future
• Ed Ulbrich – he has his work cut out, but on behalf of DD staff who remain and those of us who enjoy their work, we wish him the best
Note, we did not put John Textor on this list.
John C. Textor has resigned, effective immediately, from his positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of DDMG, as a member of the Board of Directors of DDMG, and from all positions as an officer and director with all subsidiaries of DDMG.
See our original 1996 story when Wyndcrest first bought DD.
See also our interview with John Textor earlier this year.
Google君不負責任翻譯
數字域名，這是什麼意思呢？
由麥克·西摩
2012年9月11日，
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有關這篇專題文章與我們聯繫
註釋 7
幾週後，如果沒有幾個月的傳言，問題和股市下跌，“數字域廣新聞傳媒集團，公司（NYSE：DDMG）今天宣布，其先前宣布的戰略調整的一部分，並確保長期的未來，其核心業務和方便出售資產，它已根據美國破產法院的破產法第11章中提出自願救助的申請。“
這是什麼意思呢？
美國破產法案第11章申請破產保護的想法是給公司與債權人談判，因為在此期間，債權人不能追求任何債務或索賠。 公司必須提交其重組計劃的破產法院，債權人參加破產程序的，也就是說，他們可以調查該公司的業務。 關於計劃草案的債權人必須投票，而法院將審查它的可行性。 然後，該公司必須執行他的計劃。
如果公司的股票，，像DDMG是在紐約證券交易所公開上市交易，股票通常會被摘牌發生後第11章備案。 （如果DDMG在納斯達克上市，字母“Q”將在年底，股票代碼為aded表明公司處於破產）。 通常情況下，摘牌的股票很快就變得過度的櫃檯交易（OTC）或場外交易的股票，然後第11章計劃已被證實後，由法院完全終止股份。
在威尼斯的家DD標誌性的海盜旗。
明白發生了什麼目前所了解的結構是什麼人寬鬆地指到數字域或DD。 雖然DD開始作為一個視覺效果公司，背後的公司被稱為本傑明·巴頓，“鐵達尼號”，“阿波羅13號”真實的謊言“好奇的案件如此驚人的工作，該公司的DD已演變成多個公司在最近幾年。 大多數人認為，作為DD的部分 - 實際上是：數字域名製作公司（DDPI）。 它的核心是 - 從1993年開始，這些偉大的奧斯卡獲獎故事片的主要供應商。 如果您曾經訪問過的DD在威尼斯，那麼這就是你訪問。 該位開始由斯科特·羅斯（誰跑的公司，它的輝煌歲月）加入了由詹姆斯·卡梅隆和斯坦溫斯頓等，但這些原作的玩家 - 擁有，運行或管理DD。 有一個例外，從第一天開始，一個受人尊敬的實際視覺效果專家埃德奧博銳一直與該公司，他現在是中央的故事前進的，但在某一時刻，我們將回到他的。
此外，核心有一個DD****部的。 這是母艦媒體公司的領導下，它側重於****，品牌內容，這是位創建的虛擬形像的Coachella山谷音樂節的說唱歌手圖帕克·沙庫爾。
然後有一些工作室在其他地方。 在沒有訂單，溫哥華有一個生產公司，Digital Domain的產品（溫哥華）有限公司，舊金山和佛羅里達州。
佛羅里達州是其中的故事......揭開......可以這麼說。 以上所有提到的公司是另一種數字域名，數字域名傳媒集團。 ，被稱為DDMG，和名稱是混亂的，但它是非常多的公司擁有的其它所有位，並希望擴大到佛羅里達州。 DDMG擁有9個公司，但DDMG的只擁有86.9％的DDP。 邁克爾·貝是分別由不同的少數股東，因此，例如，今年早些時候，當我們寫的這餘下的13.1％，故事片視覺效果公司DDP公司的股權合作夥伴，但不是一個合作夥伴，在股權更廣泛的Digital Domain的傳媒集團。
數字域名，數字域名製作甚至D2軟件的Nuke - 出生的地方 - 都在美國特拉華州註冊成立。 但在美國佛羅里達州註冊成立的新公司。 土地控股公司DDH地產控股I＆II（在佛羅里達州西棕櫚擁有財產），DD國際，傳統影城（這是製作動畫的功能，）和DD戰術的DDMG，所有在美國佛羅里達州註冊成立 - 這是DD立體聲組 - 這是重新建模 - 三（即擁有的專利，已經在最近的新聞，立體聲轉換）。
在2010年11月，數字域名新聞傳媒集團（母公司數字域名製作，威尼斯）收購千橡，加利福尼亞州的基礎上，在三公司宣布，該公司將其移動到聖露西港，佛羅里達州，數字域名媒體集團DDMG總部。 最後，母艦在加利福尼亞州註冊成立，當然是一家加拿大公司，在溫哥華組。
如果你要使用一個經驗法則 - 佛羅里達州的部分與母公司相互獨立的Delware / Calfornia /加拿大零部件。 換句話說，核心作用的'生意'這是大多數人會認為是DD的DD，是回到老為核心的DD - 在洛杉磯，舊金山和溫哥華設有辦事處。 獨立電影製作，立體轉換，額外的比特都死或關閉，它似乎離開最後一個有爭議的一塊拼圖 - 教育臂。
教育臂，數字領域的研究所，是一種合作夥伴關係，與美國佛羅里達州立大學和出現，雖然它是這個教育單位的名稱仍然使用數字域名的一些能力 - 現在 - 現在完全是前蘇聯的一部分，並沒有什麼與影響業務或DDPI在加利福尼亞州/溫哥華。
在哪裡從這裡DD（DDP，公司）
數字域名，DDPI感，仍然開門營業。 它偉大的藝術家，偉大的投籃。 這是很重要的。 如果所有的DDP工作人員已經放手，這將是幾乎不可能為公司“重新啟動”或“重新啟動”。
安德的遊戲 ：前一段時間DDPI的作用，有效地投資於電影安德的遊戲了，它也是主要影響供應商。 這DDP實際的“藍天”的機會，也使一些真正的錢，如果影片順利。
母艦（成立於2010年）的****部門是忙碌的，已完成的工作，如Lady Gaga的新的香水推出，成功後的“虛擬圖帕克”工作的核心媒體創建和共同擁有的虛擬像貓王普雷斯利。
搬家？ 要添加的混亂，甚至在所有這一切炸毀了，DDPI在威尼斯將有移動。 DD沒有自己的的威尼斯辦公室，房東出租的空間谷歌，因此，DD，威尼斯將很快停止Apollo13，“鐵達尼號”，“星際迷航”，“真實的謊言”本傑明·巴頓坐落在作出一切傳統的家庭或網站。
DD的核心業務是現在可能要出售，並有一個公開招標這部分的DD，為1500萬美元。 DDPI（基本上是西海岸的業務LA，SF，VC）的銷售將是拍賣的獲勝者將於9月21日，霸菱法院改變這一日期。 有上表的投資集團 - 探照燈博大資本1500萬美元的報價。 有一些文章提出的主要焦點也可能參與競標，（，但fxguide無法獨立證實這一點）。 一些，（包括在鳴叫由前DD'er的斯科特·羅斯）的“纏擾馬出價”，已被稱為探照燈出價。 這意味著，最初的出價是由一個破產公司的資產從破產的公司有興趣的買家選擇。 從投標池，破產的公司選擇“跟踪馬的第一次出價。 這讓苦惱的公司，其資產的低投標，以避免愚蠢的。 纏擾馬一旦作出了出價，其他潛在的買家可能會提交競標破產公司的資產。 從本質上講，跟踪馬所制定的門檻，使其他投標人可以購買價格不低球。 它仍然是一個有效的出價，但也將地板。
什麼是真正重要的，是解決這一銷售速度非常快。 主要工作室的工作，目前正在做DDPI和長期銷售的工作室拉他們的工作，並考慮在其他地方運行的風險。 需要做的是非常快的出售發生的和穩定的新DD出現重點只是做DD被稱為世界各地的認為：偉大的視覺效果，有才華的藝術家。 在很大程度上，這屬於埃德奧博銳，他是一個合適的視覺效果行業資產。 埃德奧博銳以2009年的電影製片人，藝術家和技術一直都在做一個重大突破，在視覺藝術的“團隊 - 一個令人吃驚的數字創作和演員”之間的界線模糊的。 奧博銳是在執行副總裁生產的DD，對他們來說，他是執行製片奧斯卡獎，贏得視覺效果為力大無比，什麼夢想可能來吧，抗擊俱樂部，生肖，適應和其他功能，以及音樂視頻和超過500個****。 2007年，他被任命為創意50 - 頂部的****和設計的創新。 而在2009年，他給了一個偉大的TED講座“本傑明·巴頓得到了他的臉”。
奧博銳很可能是正確的人打回來的路上DD作為一個領先的視覺特效公司，沒有稅收減免，國家助學金，教育交易過去的幾年裡，佛羅里達州的重點。 他是光明的，尊敬的 - 假設他和球隊能夠迅速採取行動， - 新的重新調整，削減的DD代表一個機會。 但不會很容易。 除了明顯的問題處理銷售，DD將努力說服的新作品和新的電影，它是穩定的，沒有通過地板貼現，贏得工作。 此外，DD將有一個更難吸引新的關鍵人員。
最後，這個行業已經面臨的艱難，利潤微薄上運行的，所以沒有任何壞消息的好公司最近一直在努力和失敗的。 在某一天DD仍會面臨的激烈競爭，微薄的利潤，搬遷費用和複雜性的政府和國家補助及補貼 - 主要是針對移動工作距離DD的核心加利福尼亞州的基地。
第一個“聽證會，考慮的第一天運動”將於2012年9月12日10:30 AM ET，美國破產法院特拉華州地區。
訴訟
有可能是訴訟，在這樣的情況下，這幾乎是可以預期的。 一種有趣的是，回收資金用於那些誰被放過。 今天早些時候，根據公佈的報告，Outten“DDMG公司等。金提起訴訟，控告，尋求恢復前員工60天工資和福利的工人調整與再培訓通知（”WARN“）法”。
他們爭辯說，“DDMG下令大規模裁員約2012年9月7日在佛羅里達州聖露西港，設施不為其員工提供事先書面通知的情況下。”案件正在等待美國破產法院特拉華州地區。 （一般來說，WARN法案“在美國的大規模裁員或關閉工廠提前60天書面通知，要求企業為員工提供在該通知缺席的情況下，雇主可能會承擔向每個受影響的員工60天工資，福利）。
贏了嗎？ 沒有人知道，但它很可能不是最後的訴訟，在這個問題上，甚至沒有接近。
誰覺得對不起
有很多人感到遺憾，在這裡沒有秩序有幾個：
•員工失去了他們的工作 - 尤其是那些誰搬遷到佛羅里達州
•學生開始訓練，以盈利為目的的DD iInstitute思想，它可能會導致在佛羅里達州的工作。 DDI在今年年初正式開始訓練，所以這些學生的教育，這是現在仍然有效，但遠遠低於連接到任何的就業機會已經支付了真錢
•員工在三誰動了當公司被收購
•人，其中包括許多員工擁有或在他們公司購買股票，他們已經看到他們的投資幾乎損失殆盡。 在最後的樣子，我們看到股票的交易只是9C，從52週高9.20美元。 因此，$ 20,000投資在DDMG的，現在是價值$ 195，如果它仍然是交易，你可以拿到。 在10個月內約4億美元的股東價值已經被消滅了，那就是前已經應用於多個佛羅里達州補助及補貼
在這樣一個時代非常緊張的國家財政收入的納稅人，在佛羅里達州已經看到了大量的公共資金蒸發。 （，雖然一些土地給DDMG將恢復回城，如果DD不能履行其義務，2012年12月31日）
離開設備，供應商和一般供應商被拖欠貨款
•每天都面臨著和藝術家都面臨著不確定的時代，福利等問題的前景不太明朗
•埃德奧博銳 - 他有他的工作，但對代表DD人員仍然存在，我們這些人享受他們的工作，我們希望他最好的
請注意，我們並沒有把John Textor於這個名單。
約翰·C. Textor已經辭職，立即生效，他的職位為行政總裁及主席董事會董事DDMG的，的一員董事會董事DDMG的，和所有職位作為一名高級人員及所有附屬公司的董事， DDMG。
我們原來1996年的故事，當Wyndcrest第一次買了DD 。
參見我們接受約翰Textor與今年早些時候。