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Will Daybreak games shut down in 2 months?

Discussion in 'EverQuest II General Discussion' started by Sweatypie, Apr 23, 2018.

  1. Sweatypie

    Sweatypie Active Member

    I stumpled upon this article from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.

    Does this mean DBG will be closing its doors unless they get new owners?

    The TLDR if I read this correct would be; "Columbus Nova which is part of the Russian Renova Group who's assests are being frozen and the company and it's US entities must wind down by June 5, 2018"

    Why has no one at DBG released a statement? This has been known for 17 days now.
     
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  2. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    I was like "where did you get those details?" but found the June 5 and list of companies in the PDF.

    Columbus Nova MB is headquartered in New York with offices in Charlotte and Dallas. I'm guessing they'll be able to sever ties with the Renova Group and continue operating.
     
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  3. Fuli

    Fuli Well-Known Member

    Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what the goal is.

    If the goal really is for these Russian subsidiaries to shut down, then the treasury dept is not going to be gamed by those kinds of moves.

    If the goal is just to be a pita to this Russian and the holding company, then they might allow some wiggle room.

    If it's about leverage, then I expect we'll see extensions, negotiations, legal maneuvering and what not.
     
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  4. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    It's all connected!!
     
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  5. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    I particularly like the part where the CEO of Columbus Nova is listed as Renova US Management LLC. It seems like that will prevent them from claiming there is a bright line insulating the US company from Russian operations.
     
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  6. Dizzy

    Dizzy Active Member

    The related FAQ allows for the orderly wind down of the related company to allow staff pay, taxes etc to finalized.
     
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  7. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

  8. Fuli

    Fuli Well-Known Member

    Well, surprise, suprise......

    Just saw on one of the cable news channels (msnbc i believe) that the treasury dept is starting to relax/unwind these sanctions.
     
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  9. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

  10. Sweatypie

    Sweatypie Active Member

    Did you guys see daybreaks statement? Its just not true? They must have big balls to blatatanly lie in a press release.

    “Daybreak Game Company has no affiliation with Columbus Nova. Jason Epstein, former member of Columbus Nova, is and has always been the primary owner and executive chairman of Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) which he acquired from Sony in February 2015.”

    I'm sure even Feldon posted several times about the Columbus Nova take over. Whats going on? LOL


    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  11. Shmogre

    Shmogre Active Member

    Before the thread was (quickly) deleted, there was a comment from a new forum member that sounds similar to the statement Daybreak made to Massively that's quoted above:

    [​IMG]

    It struck me as odd when I read it, since what *I* found from googling were a lot of articles saying Columbus Nova acquired SOE and rebranded it as Daybreak Games, including many that quoted Smed. I had to deliberately search for "Jason Epstein Daybreak" to find him specifically mentioned.

    For folks that have been here in the years before and after, it's odd to have seen "Columbus Nova" all over the place but now see it being completely denied. Interesting times.

    (Then add in that sources say Epstein didn't leave Columbus Nova until 2017, and that Russell Shanks left as president after Smedley and was then "replaced at least in part by Columbus Nova exec Ji Ham", it gets hard to see how they can say that there is no connection between Columbus Nova and SOE/Daybreak.)


    (After I posted this, I saw that Massively updated their article with a better summary of the same. Glad I'm not the only one that is scratching their head...)
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  12. Sweatypie

    Sweatypie Active Member

    Hes still a partner in columbus nova according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    Mr. Jason Epstein serves as the Managing Director and Managing Partner at Columbus Nova Technology Partners. Mr. Epstein co-leads the investment activities for the US group which manages directly and indirectly (through affiliate managers) a variety of assets whose investments include growth equity, private equity and fixed income investments. His primary investment areas of focus are CIFC.

    He is Partner at Columbus Nova Private Equity Partners. He has been Senior Vice President at Columbus Acquisition Corp since August 2006. Mr. Epstein is a Managing Partner at Columbus Nova and was its Senior Managing Partner since 2002. He joined Columbus Nova in 2002. He is responsible for all of Columbus Nova’s private investment activities and co-leads Columbus Nova’s three primary investment vehicles: Columbus Nova Credit Investment Managers, Columbus Nova Special Opportunities Fund and Columbus Nova Real Estate Acquisition Group. He co-founded Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit.

    Prior to joining Columbus Nova in 2001, he was a Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Development at eLink Communications Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer for three years. During his tenure, he raised over $100 million in equity and debt financing from leading venture capital firms. In 1996, he co-founded Epstein-Sloan Communications, LLC. In 1994, he co-founded S&E Innovations. He serves as Co-Chairman of Rhapsody International Inc. and Day Break Games. He has been a Director of Watsco, Inc. since June 5, 2017. He serves as Director of MapAnything, Inc. He is active on the Board of Directors and a member of the company’s Management Committee directing key strategic initiatives; and CN’s technology and media investment platform. In this capacity, he sits on a variety of Boards of Directors, including GenePeeks and 300.

    He serves as a Director of Odyssey Media Group, Inc., Rhapsody International Inc., Vericom Technologies, Inc. and Clareos, Inc. He served as a Director of Cyalume Technologies Holdings, Inc. since December 19, 2008 until September 8, 2017. He served as a Director of CIFC Corporation from June 9, 2009 to November 21, 2016. He served as a Director of Intergis LLC. He serves on the Tufts University’s Board of Overseers of the School of Liberal Arts. Mr. Epstein completed the Radcliffe Publishing Course. He has twice been a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was named one of the 40 ‘Rising Stars’ in the Washington Business Forward's ‘The Next Network’. He received a B.A. from Tufts University in 1996.


    Here CNBC covers the take over of SOE.

    Here they announce it on their own site.

    The only place you can find that CB and DBG no longer have any affiliance is Epstein’s personal Linkedin where he claims he left at the end of 2017, which seems to be just in time to avoid any sanctions hitting the firm...
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  13. Shmogre

    Shmogre Active Member

    Whoo boy, the edit history on the Daybreak Game Company wiki page is interesting.

    (I'm reserving comment on who did what, since usernames can be easily spoofed. But you can see when and what changes were made and if the user making the changes is currently blocked or not.)
     
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  14. unclex

    unclex New Member

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  15. Shmogre

    Shmogre Active Member

    From Massively:

    Update #2

    Daybreak tells us that its original press statements about Columbus Nova acquiring Daybreak were an error on the part of the company and that it is correcting that error now.

    “It was current executive chairman Jason Epstein, former senior managing partner of Columbus Nova that acquired Daybreak, not Columbus Nova itself. That distinction was never corrected in the past, so we are correcting that now,” a Daybreak spokesperson told us. -Bree
     
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  16. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    If the company actually had been sold to Jason Epstein as a private citizen, that would mean that they have lied in every press release and financial filing since. Isn't that a crime?

    I think the Department of the Treasury will not be impressed by this shell game.
     
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  17. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

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  18. unclex

    unclex New Member

    whoever tried to change the wiki didn't do a good job the foot note sayiong CN purchased SOE still listed
     
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  19. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

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  20. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    This page will prove invaluable:
    Jason Epstein

     

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