Tweeter Gains $80M In Financing
by Steve Smith -- TWICE, 9/6/2007
Denver — Tweeter Newco, the parent company of Tweeter, took advantage of the CEDIA Expo venue to announce it had received $80 million in new financing.
Tweeter, which named George Granoff CEO after the resignation of Joe McGuire in late August, had cut half of its corporate staff days before that, and was purchased by Schultze Asset Management in July for $38 million, so the $80 million new financing announcement was good news. Granoff and Philo Pappas, merchandising senior VP, officially broke the news to TWICE during the PRO Group reception here last night. Tweeter is a long-term member of the group.
In the prepared statement, the $60 million was said to come from an asset-based loan facility from Wells Fargo Retail Finance and a new $20 million term loan from Schulze.
Granoff said in the statement, “This new financing will ensure that we are properly stocked with a good selection of premium products from our best and most-qualified suppliers. These are goods and parts that our discerning customers demand and expect from us. Also, the new funding will give us the added flexibility to meet our new and more demanding business strategy goals.”
Granoff, who said he has been on the job for “10 days” did not want to say much beyond his statement about plans for Tweeter. But when asked about the conjecture that he was selected to be CEO to basically liquidate the company, Granoff noted, “The $20 million loan from Schultze [Asset Management] indicates that George [Schultze, chairman of the parent company] is in” for the long-term, and indicated better commitments for existing employees, among other evidence.
In his statement in the release, Schultze said the parent company made the “additional investment” so the company “has added flexibility to execute on its exciting new strategy ... and to further reinforce our long-term commitment to the business. Tweeter is lucky at this point to have the opportunity to start with a clean slate and a fresh start.”
The $80 million is in addition to Schultze purchase price and the cash proceeds of about $10.5 million to Tweeter Newco when it sold its entire investment in Tivoli Audio.
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Hey George...How ''bout throwing in $1.9 mil to pay the X-employees their severance and unpaid Cobra that was promised in good faith? What can people think about Tweeter and Tweeter Newco if they treat people this way? Show some class...Tweeter used to be a class operation, why don''t you honor the contracts signed by the loyal employees. The PR alone will more than repay you with good will and customer confidence. Jeff Stone used to say "Do the right thing." and we did...
Best of luck...
Greg Schimke - 2007-14-9 13:11:00 EDT -
What is truly unfortunate here is that Tweeter destroyed an entire market. Think back 5 years ago, there was a still a high end market. Tweeter bought all of these locally owned companies, changed them, and closed them. Now the only choices are BB and CC. CE has changed but how many of those locally owned companies would still be open had Tweeter not got involved.
Former employee - 2007-11-9 13:16:00 EDT -
Perhaps they should save that money and buy Circuit City when they close up. How many employees gone 4k, no it's actually closer to 5k that are gone. Sounds fishy to me.
Sir David R Christensen - 2007-7-9 01:42:00 EDT -
Wow! It sounds like JL Audio jumped the gun when they jumped to grab up Crutchfield as their replacement for the loss of Tweeter. I suppose it is just wishful thinking that they would turn down the "new and financially" improved Tweeter from being a dealer.
Sir David R Christensen - 2007-7-9 01:37:00 EDT -
Maybe "tweeter" can think about fulfuiling its commitment to the former employees it owes thousands$ of dollars in severence/vacation too. You know the ones that where promised so much!!
r-dawg - 2007-6-9 16:24:00 EDT
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