If You’ve Got More Than $25 Million, You Could Be The Next Suge Knight
Suge Knight’s obviously suffered his share of legal and personal and zip code-related indignities lately, but at least he hopes to soon be one step closer to putting the tarnished legacy of Death Row Records behind him. R. Todd Neilson, who’s overseeing the Chapter 11 proceedings for the label that’s still home to certain master tapes by marquee names like Snoop Dogg, has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles to put everything Death Row has left on the auction block, and though you’ll need to be able to match the $25 million Warner Music Group has already offered, just look at what you’ll win if you can find an extra million hiding under the couch.
Besides the rights to music recordings, the assets for sale include videos, master copies of recordings, merchandising rights and inventory.
Neilson said he and Richard K. Diamond, who is administering Knight’s bankruptcy estate, would determine how to distribute the sale proceeds between the two estates, subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval.
Neilson proposed that potential bidders submit their offers by April 11 for an April 24 auction. He asked that the court give final approval to the sale at a May 12 hearing.
Competing bidders must initially exceed Warner’s offer by at least $1 million, and subsequent bids must increase by increments of at least $100,000, Neilson requested. He wants to pay Warner a break-up fee of $500,000 plus reimbursement of up to $250,000 in expenses if its bid doesn’t win at auction.
Yes, for the minimal outlay of a quarter of a tenth of a billion dollars, you could be psychologically terrorizing Robert Van Winkle, having minions pen Dr. Dre diss tracks, and getting the prime time stink eye from C. DeLores Tucker by May 13! Knight and his court-appointed bankruptcy team have asked for a “yay” or “nay” decision on the auction to be rendered by the end of February, so start taking those Canadian pennies to Coinstar now.
Warner Music Wants Death Row Assets [AP via CNNMoney]
