SFX Entertainment, the company which owns Australian electronic music festival Stereosonic, is facing new ownership. The organisation is selling its assets at the same time they’re facing a looming refund-based hell resulting from thousands of punters being left stranded overnight in mud and rain at its TomorrowWorld festival in the US state of Georgia.
In a press release, SFX Entertainment says it is selling “the entire Company or assets not central to the Company’s core business”, and has set a bid deadline of 14th October, two weeks after its original bid date of 2nd October.
Thousands of TomorrowWorld festival-goers were unable to leave the event last weekend after rain water-logged the festival grounds. TomorrowWorld organisers reportedly stopped allowing vehicles to reach punters at pick up points due to the wet conditions, and SFX Entertainment is now facing a lengthy (and expensive) refunds process involving up to 190,000 ticket holders.
SFX’s financial troubles started well before this though and, as the New York Business Journal reports, the company’s assets could be sold at a huge discount given its sliding stock price, which fell 7.5 per cent as reports surfaced about the TomorrowWorld washout.
Aside from its water-logged misery, this year’s TomorrowWorld festival also went to shit when two punters were captured in a NSFW photo of some super-casual rimming at the event.
If SFX Entertainment does come under new ownership as a result of its fire sale, Stereosonic, which is currently operated by Totem OneLove Group Pty Ltd, would also have new overlords.
As Billboard reports, SFX Entertainment is also facing a class-action lawsuit for “false and misleading statements” regarding CEO Robert Sillerman’s attempts to turn the group into a private company.
Stereosonic 2015 is set to take place in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide this November and December, in a single-day format.
SFX Entertainment also owns music download site Beatport and Amsterdam-based producer of dance music festivals ID&T.
