You remember that company, remember? You know? That one company with the interesting name? C’mon you remember! It’s….uh… something about Andy Warhol? No, sorry it’s…. oh yeah Chicken Soup for the Soul. Remember them? Oh no it wasn’t just a book, it was WAY more, and still, we don’t know how or why, but CSFTS is fading into obscurity.
Don’t really know what Chicken Soup for the Soul does? Neither did I! And apparently it was a little more than books. CSFTS was more than just a few paperbacks thrown into a corner of a room, the stack that you “swear to god you’ll read one book this year” pile. CSFTS started back in 1993 and after 31 years is finally saying quit. And if I’ve ever had a sign to quit by golly it was because I heard CSFTS was shutting down. Well during their 30 year+ tenure of life the company actually took on quite a few projects from books to shows, to shorts, to movies, CSFTS really carved out a name for itself among indie fans and book club moms. Creating media that much like the company itself has fallen into obscurity.
After many legal woes and a bunch of small acquisitions CSFTS found itself in the same boat of other struggling companies, taking on more “life-line” projects, while also eating a bunch of fucking debt. Including debt from the purchase of Redbox, the DVD kiosk company that you also just had to remind yourself of existed. Yep, and after a lil 200 million+ dollars in debt from that deal, Chicken Soup for the Soul should have been looking towards the sunset, but no, they said “fuck it, we’ll make it work.” The biggest problem is, that buying out Redbox only threw gasoline in the tub of water with the toaster in it.
After about 2015, the writing was on the wall. But for CSFTS the writing was probably more of an analogy than an actual message, because they kept trying shit out. Eventually the “try every phase and see what sticks” was just piling more on the company with very little gain. In June of this year even the CEO was like “fuck it we ball” and fired everyone on the board at CSFTS, which is pretty brutal. But it’s also borderline evil when you consider the CEO’s WIFE was on the board. I mean you could not write a better sitcom than that.
It sounds like CSFTS had a big money problem and a lot of poor investment choices (damn they just like me fr). Flop after flop and debt accumulation just brought the interesting named company to the ground. But that’s what happens when you spend an absurd amount of money on things like Crackle or Redbox, or any other shit thing they invested in.
Too little too late, or just you know don’t by a dying horse and then expect it to win the Kentucky Derby. No matter what really happened over at Chicken Soup for the Soul, they just couldn’t figure it out (like my parents marriage), whether it was lack of foresight or lack of accounting, the Chapter 11 stands. See ya CSFTS…. We’ll…… miss you? Anyway, that’s my take on it. Until next time.--GS
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