Girls Gone Wild Bankruptcy Auction Planned for April

Rhett Pardon Feb 14, 2014 11:45 AM PST

LOS ANGELES — A federal bankruptcy trustee plans on putting up the Girls Gone Wild franchise for auction in April, effectively selling off its trademarks and domain names.

Bankruptcy trustee R. Todd Neilson's plan to sell off the assets of the longtime adult entertainment brand includes a stalking horse bidder — one that has already drawn out a plan to potentially acquire the assets — that would raise $1.825 million to partly pay off Chapter 11 claims.

Neilson said in court documents this week that the stalking horse bidder appeared after a formal search was made for a company that would pick up the properties.

Under the pre-arranged deal, if successful the stalking horse bidder would pay $1.825 million and assume Girls Gone Wild's liabilities.

The trustee said he encountered several difficulties in finding a suitable buyer out of an initial 16 potential buyers, 12 of whom entered into nondisclosure agreements and received identical due diligence materials containing the debtors’ confidential financial information.

"First, the debtors are in a specialized business," Neilson noted. "Several potential buyers either had moral objections to the business or concerns that they did not understand how to operate an adult entertainment business. Second, at least one potential buyer expressed his concern that, although the debtors were profitable in 2013, they may not be profitable in future years due to a perceived general decline in the adult entertainment industry. Finally, some buyers expressed reservations about buying the debtors’ assets, given its previous management."

Neilson said he reached a deal with the unnamed stalking horse bidder over two weeks.

The stalking horse bidder, which has agreed to an overbid procedure as well as a good faith cash deposit of $250,000, will be protected by a $100,000 break-up fee.

Neilson, GGW Brands LLC and its subsidiaries, GGW Marketing LLC, GGW Events LLC, GGW Magazine LLC and GGW Direct LLC, filed a motion requesting that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sandra R. Klein approve the auction for April 11.

Included in the auction are the company's trademark and 69 domains.

Girls Gone Wild's U.S. trademarks, some multiple trademarks for various products, include Girls Gone Wild, Banned From Television, Gone Wild, Girls Gone Mobile, Guys Gone Wild and Mantra. The franchise also includes foreign trademarks for Girls Gone Wild, Banned From Television and Guys Gone Wild in Canada, New Zealand and France.

Girls Gone Wild's domains include: