Skilmissen mellem Viacom og Harmonix har bestemt ikke været køn og har i dag taget endnu en ikke altfor smuk drejning. ifølge Hollywood Reporter, mener Viacom at de tilbage i 2007 betalte lige lidt for meget for “forventningerne” til Rock Band. De mener at have krav på $131 mio. som de meget gerne ser Harmonix’ aktionærer kvittere fint for. Nu sker den tilbagebetaling ikke frivilligt og derfor har Viacom da også indgivet et officielt søgsmål ved retten i Delaware. Det er dog ganske tvivlsomt om de får held med det.

First, the original Harmonix owners sued Viacom for more than $13 million for alleged unfair business practices. In reaction, Viacom made regulatory filings with the SEC that claimed it was owed a “refund of a substantial portion of amounts previously paid.”

Now, Viacom has followed up on those claims with an actual lawsuit filed in Delaware federal court that alleges that earn-out payments were miscalculated. The company is now seeking $131,827,980 of the original $149,770,149 payment to Harmonix at the time of the merger.

Earn outs are common in large corporate transactions between buyers and sellers, bridging valuation differences and incentivising original ownership to stay affiliated with the sold company. Typically this happens by allowing management to share in the rewards of strong financial performance past the merger.

According to experts, corporations don’t typically attempt to recover earn-outs, but Viacom is pursuing the remedy nonetheless.

4 KOMMENTARER

  1. #2: Du kan få mange shetlands-pony’er og pomfritter for 131mio $!

    Jeg tror jeg ville købe et nacho-træ, som jeg kunne plante i baghaven.