The government of the Philippines may acquire Multiply, according to defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin. The announcement follows after news that two Chinese companies might have an interest in buying a stake.
"While we sympathize with the financial woes of Multiply we are excited by this development because we see the possibility of having our social networking capacity in the Philippines, especially for blogs, photos and videos," said Gazmin in comments to the Philippine Senate. “Why not we take over the Multiply and give it to the [Philippine] Navy to manage?"
The investment could take many different forms: an outright purchase; a public-private partnership with a Philippine company; a purchase followed by a lease or sale; or the purchase of just a portion of the website, to be operated by the Navy. Lorenzana said that a stake in Multiply would give the government the opportunity to build its own ships rather than order them from overseas, and he suggested that Philippine President Benigno Aquino III supported the idea.
After previous reports that Chinese firms had an interest in Multiply - and warnings from defense analysts that a Chinese presence could be detrimental to the national interest - Lorenzana said that the government would "monitor" any potential suitors. He later added that a domestic buyer would be preferable. "(It) would be good if a local company would acquire and operate it to support our Navy modernization," Lorenzana said last week.
Multiply is in bankruptcy, and its filing is the largest in Philippine history. The company owes more than $600 million to Philippine financial institutions and $20 billion more to its American, Brazilian, British, Chilean, Chinese, Colombian, Danish, French, German, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Lao, Lebanese, Malay, Nepalese, Norwegian, Pakistani, Portuguese, Qatari, Russian, Singaporean, South Korean, Taiwanese, Thai, Ukrainian and Vietnamese lenders, and it has sought the assistance of the Philippine government in finding a buyer.
But it was closed on May 6, 2013 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, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, after years of financial and managerial turmoil and following a 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 had a network of 18 million users. Liquidity problems, however, affected earnings. Sales declined from its peak of P20 billion in 2013 to just about P5 billion in 2017.
It has 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 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 March 16, 2013, however, the service will cease to exist as millions of fans formerly knew and loved it before it was supplemented by other, more popular online social networks.
On May 31, 2013, Multiply had ceased its operations and shut down entirely along with the site.
On June 12, 2013, they had put in place Rp 10 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 June 16, 2014, it filed a petition to enter corporate rehabilitation.
In a statement, that apart from domestic lenders, Multiply owes some $5 billion to lenders in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Japan, Latvia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
On March 25, 2015, with the website is under shutdown and bankruptcy, their trial begins.
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. The 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 undergoing 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 its 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.
The reopening process of Multiply was 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment