Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesTechStuff
Navigate today's cutting-edge technology with the gurus from HowStuffWorks.
Podcast Transcript | Listen to the Podcast Now
Profile on Midway Games | July 26, 2010
Jonathan Strickland
How the mighty have fallen might be that statement.
Chris Pollette
He didn’t have much confidence that it was going to improve.
Jonathan Strickland
Not only that, but we should also point out – I’ll point out – that the company at that point had over $200 million in debt. Just Midway alone had $200 million in debt, but Sumner Redstone had bigger problems to worry about because the parent company that owned Midway at the time – or the parent company that Sumner worked through in order to own this 87 percent ownership – this is really complicated when we get into this.
Chris Pollette
Midway had released other games related to movies and TV shows such as Tron and Discs of Tron.
Jonathan Strickland
Which were awesome.
Chris Pollette
I enjoyed them very much. Both of them.
Jonathan Strickland
Like I said, there are notable exceptions. There are certain games that are based on these kinds of properties that are amazing, but for every amazing game you get, you get ten ETs, or Superman N64.
Chris Pollette
Frankly, I think there’s only one ET.
Jonathan Strickland
We should be thankful.
Chris Pollette
That is particularly awful.
Jonathan Strickland
So 2008 – we’re jumping ahead a bit here, but Midway’s been suffering. They’ve not been raking in the revenue to be able to pay off the loans the company has taken in order to stay in business. Those loans have started to really accumulate. By 2008, they shut down a Los Angeles office. They move the operations back to San Diego. They shut down the Austin office, which was developing some pretty cool games at the time. I remember I had friends in Texas at the time, and they were very upset. I no longer have those friends.
In December of 2008 the fellow holding 87 percent interest in the company sells it off. That’s Sumner Redstone. You may be familiar with that name.
Chris Pollette
Yes, I am.
Jonathan Strickland
Are you? Redstone, that’s a pretty famous name.
Chris Pollette
If you pay attention to media at all, you’re probably familiar with Redstone.
Jonathan Strickland
Redstone’s huge.
Chris Pollette
He’s involved in many, many, many media properties.
Jonathan Strickland
Yeah. Things like CBS.
Chris Pollette
Details, details.
Jonathan Strickland
So Redstone sells his controlling interest. He had 87 percent of the ownership of that company, and he sells it to an investor named Mark Thomas. He sells it for $100,000.00. Think about this for a minute, guys. This is the company that brought Pac-Man to America, and the ownership of this company, more or less, is being sold for $100,000.00.