In what seems like ominous news in the financial saga of Platinum Studios, its employees have agreed to be paid minimum wage “until further notice to reduce the company’s payroll obligations.”
The information comes from a form filed yesterday with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission:
The employees of Platinum Studios, Inc. (the “Company”) have agreed to accept minimum wage cash compensation until further notice to reduce the company’s payroll obligations. Each employee will also be receiving a bonus commensurate with their position in the Company, in common stock, for accepting this payroll reduction. This arrangement will be reviewed on a bi-weekly basis by the Company’s management.
Form 8-K, signed by Platinum CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, is the “current report” companies must file with the SEC “to announce major events that shareholders should know about.”
On his blog, former Platinum creator/defender DJ Coffman puts the news in perspective.
“That last one is really sad to think about,” writes Coffman, creator of Hero By Night. “To think workers at Wal-Mart are making more than people inside Platinum right now? I mean … well, maybe that’s saying a lot on it’s own. At least they are being paid something, because the last I heard nobody was being paid anything at all.”
Add to that the company’s Wowio woes, and its tarnished public image, and things don’t look so … shiny … for Platinum.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
So I told my wife about this. I said “They’re paying people minimum wage and stock.”
And it was morning, so words were taking a while to seep in. “Stock?” she asked. Then a pause. “Oh, *company stock.*”
“No,” I said, in morning sarcasm. “They’re paying people in beef stock.”
She glowered.
“I know a guy who used to get paid in beef stock,” I continued. “Now he’s a *bullionaire*!”
————–
Despite things like that, I suspect my marriage will outlast this company.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Why would they want a bonus in company stock, what the hell? “Here we can’t pay you what we said we could, have some worthless paper…”
October 16th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I smell death.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I suspect Madonna’s marriage will last longer than Platinum.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Huh. Are there a lot of people that think Wal-Mart employees deserve to be paid MORE then Platinum employees? I’d imagine Wal-Mart’s more labor-intensive, even if you end up being one of those elderly greeters at the entrance.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
What I wrote doesn’t make sense.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
It’s not like this kind of thing hasn’t happened before. I saw the founder of Pandora speak earlier this week, and he said some employees worked for free for two years during weak times. Now Pandora is doing pretty well.
Of course Pandora has a great product. Platinum… is it at least headquartered somewhere warm?
October 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
LA’s pretty warm this time of year. Should be good until Thanksgiving or so. Valley gets colder faster, of course…
October 16th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Platinum Studios? Oh, now I remember…they are the ones that ripped off my friend’s “Territory 51″ comic…by putting out “Cowboys and Aliens” later on…yet still claiming they had an original concept.
Nice try jerks.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Hey has anyone heard of Platinum’s latest property? It called “RUN FOR THE HILLS”
October 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Did they get the license for the Iron Maiden song?
It was Iron Maiden, right? Eddie would be disappointed if I got it wrong.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:22 am
What the article fails to mention is that the company stock is currently worth 5 cents and has been as low as 3 cents.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PDOS.OB
Good luck to all the employees.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
yep, thats maiden
‘run to the hills, run for your life’