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Wednesday, September 23, 2009 | 7:15am
REPORT: Marc Ecko To Throw In The Towel, Sell To Iconix To Pay Debts
Following a fight to avoid the inevitable, Billionaire Marc Ecko must sell 51% of his pioneering Ecko brand
Its no secret despite his attempts to prove otherwise that the Godfather of urban apparel, Marc Ecko has been in financial trouble for quite some time. But at long last his empire may be in its final hours. With a mounting debt believed to be in the tens of millions and with creditors threatening to force him into bankruptcy, Ecko it would appear has finally thrown in the towel.
According to the New York Post, Ecko is negotiations to sell a controlling interest to Iconix, the company Jay-Z sold Rocawear to and who recently bought up 50 percent of Ed Hardy, the tattoo-inspired streetwear label. In addition to selling 51% of the company, Ecko could be forced to hand over his licensed trademark to run his wholesale and retail businesses.
We knew it was bad when Marc Ecko hired investment bank Peter J. Solomon to sell off some assets to pay down his debt.
As one might imagine given the tension of such decision, Ecko and his longtime CEO Seth Gerszberg are “in a feud right now,” according to one source and has presented a major stumbling block for completing the deal. If the two can’t reach a compromise it appears one or both may be forced to leave Ecko because despite their differences, the deal appears imminent.
Under the pending deal, Iconix would immediately pay the more than $100 million Marc Ecko owes to Li & Fungas, a key creditor that helps manufacture Marc Ecko’s clothes in an all-cash deal.
Naturally Marc Ecko representatives didn’t comment. Look the writing is on the wall. Marc Ecko has been one of my entrepreneur role models since I was a young kid so its very disheartening to see what has transpired. But the true heart of a man is displayed in how he’s able to rebound. He’s never been on the losing end ever since he’s been in the public eye so I’m eager to see how he responds. Financial troubles in economic times like this are the norm and nothing to be embarrassed about. They’re just more pronounced when you’re a worldwide brand like Ecko with an extravagant persona and a palatial, 280,000-square-foot office in Midtown, Manhattan outfitted with a basketball court.
FILED IN Business & Marketing, Fashion, News
can you say monopoly?!?!
yeah Iconix is buying everyone’s dirty laundry and cleaning it to sell back to them.
“billionaire”? I think not… Read the other NYPost articles in the past year and you’ll get s sense he’s nowhere near that.
No one knows his true finances but considering Ecko at its pinnacle its certainly not a stretch to consider his net worth to be less than 1 Billion. I’ll take Fortune and Forbes estimates any day over the Post.
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You can bet Marc Ecko (or whatever his real name is) has stashed away tens of millions of dollars for himself from the profits he made. But he ain’t personally worth a billion $- if he was, then he would have covered the $170 million his Corp. owed. Keep in mind, when a company is expanding as Ecko’s was, much of the profit is reinvested to finance that expansion- so the owners don’t have liquidity.
One more thing- whatever you say about Marc Ecko, his designs captivated people around the world. Whether his business/accounting sense was as enduring is another matter. I’m guessing his market share has been eaten by competitors, the recession, and the rapid
(and costly) expansion into Ecko owned retail stores- as well as some misfires, such as his “partnering-up” with “Fity” Cent.
thats why his clothing desighn’s suck.. fuck his clothing, theres no hip hop flavor. just the same bullsite saying just in differnt colors.. the clothes were much better in 1999 to 2002.. then it went down hill….!