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Stan Lee Media Shuts Down
Stan Lee Media, named for the founder of Marvel Comics and the mastermind behind Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Hulk, has indefinitely pulled the plug on its operations and laid off 140 employees at its suburban Los Angeles headquarters while it struggles to find funding.
The animation studio had launched such cutting-edge Webisodic titles as 7th Portal, Accuser and The Drifter, in addition to making superheroes out of the Backstreet Boys and Mary J. Blige.
Stan Lee Media had secured financing of $2.2 million and an equity line of up to $40 million, but the deals were dependant on the company's stock price, which took a nosedive to less than $1 a share.
"The market put us in a very vulnerable position," John Cassell, director of special projects and one of the few remaining execs left, tells the Associated Press. "What would have been routine financing was affected by these strange market conditions.
"The key is that Stan Lee is the creative backbone of this company and regardless of the challenges that have come upon us, he remains as a viable force," Cassell adds. (Lee, 77, cofounded the company about two years ago, after he left Marvel.)
Cassell suggests Stan Lee's stock price fell as part of a general dot-com brush-off by investors.
Meanwhile, a skeleton staff will keep the site up and running and will continue focusing the company's licensing and merchandising projects--which, Cassell says, is the company's real future.
In a statement, company president and CEO Ken Williams says, "We still believe in the fundamentals of our business plan and are proud of the work we have accomplished to date."
It is the work Stan Lee Media is supposed to accomplish in the future that bears careful consideration. The company has a deal with producer Mark Canton to turn its 7th Portal Webisodic series into a feature film and a deal with Warner Bros. to produce a new Conan the Barbarian feature film. Additionally, Stan Lee Media has a larger promotional deal with the Backstreet Boys, a clothing line in the works with Blige and a sponsorship and promotional deal for the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
What will happen to these deals is uncertain, but confidence is low, considering many executives have been selling their shares in recent weeks.
Stan Lee himself appears hopeful his superforces will save the day--the comic kingpen hasn't sold any of his shares.
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