Mad Catz files for bankruptcy

After the company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last week, Mad Catz has now filed for bankruptcy. 

The hardware company has had a turbulent time of late, with the lacklustre performance of Rock Band 4 an underlying factor in the firm’s poor financial performance. In February 2016, the company made comprehensive redundancies. On Friday, with the share price falling to just $0.04, the company was officially delisted from the NYSE as a result of “an abnormally low trading price”. 

Karen McGinnis, Mad Catz president and CEO said in a statement: “Regrettably and notwithstanding that for a significant amount of time the Company has been actively pursuing its strategic alternatives, including various near term financing alternatives such as bank financing and equity infusions, as well as potential sales of certain assets of the Company or a sale of the Company in its entirety, the Company has been unable to find a satisfactory solution to its cash liquidity problems,

The company revealed it was forced into bankruptcy after being told by financial advisors that “no strategic alternatives in respect of a sale of the Company or other corporate sale transaction” was available. Furthermore, the firm’s lenders refused to further increase the company’s credit limits. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc (“PWC”) has been appointed as the trustee in bankruptcy of the Mad Catz estate. The company has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. 

The Mad Catz brand has been historically well established in the FGC community. They not only sponsored tournaments but also once housed some of the finest players including Daigo Umehara, Tokido Kaniguchi and Kenryo Hayashi

Esports Insider says: It’s sad to see a company that historically has done a lot for the FGC esports scene disappear. Alas, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise after last week’s announcement.