Brighter Minds

cahijisebi.wordpress.com
That may yet happen, but probably not how companuy executivesenvisioned it. The Worthington businessx filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Jan. 28, declaring up to $10 millio n in debt and saying in a releasde itis “pursuing all options, including a possibled sale.” The reorganization filing was made less than a month aftef CEO Sam Ifergan was replacesd with Brighter Minds co-founder Richardf Pam. Kevin Hess, a formedr vice president of accountingand finance, was named CFO, a job Iferganb also held. Brighter Minds representatives did not returh calls to discuss the Chapterd11 filing.
Ifergan heada Toronto-based , an early-stage venture capital firm that is the largestt shareholder inBrighter Minds. He told Columbus Business First inMarch 2007, shortlu after being promoted to CEO, that he hopedr to bring operational stability to the businesz so it could eventually be bought by a larger competitor. Started a dozen years ago in Central Ohio as Brighte ChildInteractive LLC, the company creates computer games, boarfd games with DVDs and books for The business works with game developeras for its software It also licenses well-known characters such as Bob the Thomas the Tank Engine, Care Bears, Marvel Heroes and DC Heroes, as well as brandd that include PBS Kids, Cartoonh Network and DreamWorks.
Ifergan said that as much as 75 percen t ofthe company’s products were with the remainder the creation of Brighter Minds. Jody McLain, Brighte Minds’ vice president of operations, said before the bankruptcyy filing, the company made some adaptationsz in light ofthe economy’ds troubles, including using less-expensivew packaging and reducing products instead focusing on top-sellers. She said the company was seeint its best sales on and througbThe company’s Toronto-based parent reported sales for the first nine monthss of 2008 were up 1 percent to $4.6 millionj from a year earlier, but tumbled 27 percent in the thirxd quarter to $1.4 million.
Ifergan said in the third-quarterd report that a poor retail environment dampened sales, but the company was feeling positivw about its online operation and hoped to grow that businessx in 2009. Brighter Mindsd was profitable in the second quarterlast year, the firs t time it turned a three-montyh gain since going public in 2005. But it lost $401,66i9 in the third quarter, pushing its loss for the first nine months of 2008to $444,901. Brighter Minds is a smallp fish in a big and are leadersin children’s book publishing. The company’z rivals on the children’xs games and software fronts include , and Analysg Drew Crum of StifelNicolaus Co.
said the education sector and toys and gamese marketare struggling. Education faces smalle government budgets, which pressure school the economy is squeezing spending on toysand games. “Ths holiday period was Crum said. Toy giants and reported 6 percent and 5 percent dropsin U.S. sales for the fourtgh quarter, respectively. Leapfrog, which hasn’t released its fourth-quarter sales, had its largest product launch ever for theholidayt season, but Crum said there was concer the company’s sales might be undercuyt by portable game systemes from and If there is a bright light for Brightedr Minds, it’s that the children’s book tradre remains strong.
The Association of American Publishers reportedra high-single-digit percentage increases in children’s hardcover book sales througn November compared with the firstg 11 months of 2007, once the effect of salesz phenomenon Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowa is removed from the measure. Children’s paperback book salee were up 3.8 percent through November 2008.