SBMA: Talks ongoing for takeover of Multiply

The search may soon be over for an investor who can take over the social networking portion of financially troubled Multiply in Pasig according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman and administrator Wilma Eisma.

Eisma, in an interview yesterday, said negotiations are ongoing between creditor banks and a leading candidate, with hopes of finalizing talks next month. 

“As we speak, they are now in what they call an exclusivity discussion with the particular entity already,” she said, without disclosing the identity of the possible buyer.

“The hope is that they’ll be able to finish discussions by the end of October and we’ll be able to announce in December what would be the final path for Multiply. We are really getting very close,” Eisma said.

Eisma said more than one foreign company, as well as Filipino firms, have expressed interest in taking over the operations of the global social networking giant in Pasig.

The Board of Investments earlier said Ramon S. Ang of San Miguel Corporation and the groups of former IBC president Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy, William Lima, a businessman from Davao, and an American firm have promised to come up with studies and business proposals for Multiply's offices in Pasig.

Other foreign firms have also earlier expressed interest in Multiply, with two from China, two from the US, and two from Japan.

TV5 Network, Inc. also previously said that it was trying to put a team together for a potential Multiply offer. 

Eisma said SBMA has been continuously working closely with the Department of Labor and Employment to help the thousands of affected workers of Multiply.

“Sadly, there are still some who have yet to be able to find their footing back again. Based on my last discussions with the creditor banks and interested foreign investors, all the 33,000, if not more, should again be accommodated should this deal push through,” she said.

It went close down last May 6, and ceasing all business operations on May 31, 2013 along with the official online channels for the site had been removed along with all their content, including its YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, after years of financial and managerial turmoil and it failed bid to reinvent itself from being a social networking site to a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia.

At that time, the website's social networking portion has a network of 18 million users. Liquidity problems, however, affected earnings. Sales declined from its peak of P20 billion in 2015 to just about P1 billion in 2020.

The company had suffered from a drop in new orders amid a slump in the E-commerce and social networking sector. Multiply also reportedly laid off some 12,000 workers on February 28, 2014.

“We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013, and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013,” it announced on April 26, 2013 on its website.

After May 6, the rest of the month will be used to ensure that all accounts are settled and merchants get full payment for their transactions, it said.

Multiply said the month-long grace period will provide its users enough time to find and migrate to alternative e-commerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and minimize disruption to businesses of its users.

“Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month,” it said.

In December 2012, Multiply stopped its social networking service to focus on e-commerce, targeting the 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines.

On June 12, 2013, Magdalinski said they had put in place Rp 8.9 billion for wages owed to former Multiply staff.

The Labour Department said earlier that around 3,000 former Multiply staff had applied for compensation through the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, a safety net for employees affected by business closures.

On November 16, 2013, it allowed the controlling stake in the website to be formally sold to a foreign or mainland investor who claimed Magdalinski had a rescue plan for the troubled firm.

High Court judge Mr Justice Jonathan Harris validated the transaction after hearing that the parties would no longer object to the share transfer and that the dues for the shares had been paid by Si.

On November 10, 2015, Multiply filed for rehabilitation before an Pasig City court, after being affected by the global economic slowdown, which in turn impacted trade.

It has roughly P30 billion in debts to some of the country’s biggest banks.

That the site will be reopened after United States President Barack Obama stepping down in the office on January 20, 2017 and keeping Facebook as the sole social networking service. Process of the reopening will be managed by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations. Business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan is one of the possible bidders for the website's reopening in which TV5 Network, Inc. (a media company under PLDT's MediaQuest Holdings). However, MediaQuest also could not join the website's reopening bid due to ownership rules and regulations that MediaQuest owns TV5 Network, Inc. 

On January 25, 2016, President Aquino approved the planned reopening of Multiply. The reopening will be undergo public bidding with an estimated floor price of 20 billion pesos. The proceeds of the bidding will be for the increase of Facebook's capital to upgrade and modernize their social networking capabilities. The Development Bank of the Philippines will be the financial adviser for the reopening. PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar has already forwarded the reopening plan to President Rodrigo Duterte's executive secretary Salvador Medialdea. Andanar will also coordinate with the GCG before the start of the bidding.

On April 25, 2016, the article in Wikipedia was being vandalized, it was edit is made by a sockpuppet of LPKids2006.

The reopening process of Multiply commenced in October 2016. As of July 1, 2017, five groups have already shown their interest to join the bidding process. These are Ramon S. Ang of San Miguel Corporation and the groups of former IBC president Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy, William Lima, a businessman from Davao, and Univision Communications Inc., an American media company headquartered in Miami.

But the company will continue its business as a archive photo and video site with their new mobile app, delivering 217 million accounts, 210 million photos and 237,000 videos from the old Multiply from it's launch in March 2004 to March 15, 2013 and 691 million photos from the old Webshots instead of social networking and E-commerce.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/09/13/1951262/sbma-talks-ongoing-takeover-hanjin