Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the entertainment company that operates Redbox, Crackle and other businesses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — after failing to pay employees and vendors for at least the past week.
The company’s June 28 bankruptcy petition was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In the filing, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment listed total debts of $970 million and consolidated assets of $414 million as of March 31, 2024.
As of March 31, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment reported cash and equivalents of $4.9 million, which included $4.6 million of restricted cash.
Creditors listed on CSSE’s bankruptcy include Universal Studios Home Entertainment (which is owed $16.7 million) as well as Universal City Studios Productions ($16.7 million), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment ($9.1 million), BBC Studios Americas ($9 million), Walgreens ($5 million), Lionsgate ($4.6 million), Walmart ($4.1 million), Vizio ($2.75 million), Warner Bros. Home Entertainment ($2 million), and Paramount Pictures ($1.96 million) and Paramount Home Entertainment ($1.2 million).
The company had previously reported in an SEC filing that on June 11, 2024, chairman and CEO Bill Rouhana Jr. (owner of 79% of the voting power represented in its outstanding common stock) had dissolved its board of directors.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment owns and operates three flagship ad-supported streaming services: Redbox, Crackle and Chicken Soup for the Soul. In addition, the company operates Redbox Free Live TV, a free, ad-supported streaming television service (FAST), a transactional VOD service, and the network of about 27,000 Redbox rental kiosks across the U.S. The company produces, acquires and distributes films and TV series through its Screen Media and Chicken Soup for the Soul TV Group subsidiaries.
The company acquired a majority stake in Crackle from Sony Pictures Television in 2019. CSSE announced the close of its acquisition of Redbox in August 2020, in a deal valued at $370 million; with the takeover of Redbox, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment assumed $359.9 million of debt.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul LLC, which publishes the famous book series and produces pet food under the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand name.