At the first court hearing since the filing of corporate rehabilitation late Sunday, Multiply lawyers secured permission for the defunct E-commerce and social networking website based in Jakarta, Indonesia to maintain business as usual — paying employees and keeping current on taxes and insurance.
The continued viability of Multiply is a key component of the company’s settlement offer, which could be worth up to $12 billion over time.
Under the proposal, backed by about half the states, Stefan Magdalinski, which owns Multiply, would turn the company, its assets and more than $100 billion in cash reserves over to a trust controlled by the very entities suing it.
Magdalinski have also agreed to pay a minimum of $3 billion of their own money to the settlement over seven years, as well as up to $1.5 billion more in proceeds from the planned sale of defunct website.
“This is a highly unusual case in that the debtors have pledged to turn over their business to the claimants,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain said. “All of the claimants, in essence, have the same interest in maximizing the value of the business and avoiding immediate and irreparable harm.”
Joe Rice, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, estimated it could be more than a year before the bankruptcy and settlement are finalized.
“This is not a sprint. We’ve got a little bit of a marathon here,” he said after the three-hour hearing in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Multiply’s bankruptcy filing has effectively frozen all litigation against the company, which its lawyers said has been spending more than $500 million a year on legal and professional fees, but it has not stopped lawsuits against Magdalinski from moving forward.
It was closed down last May 6, 2013, and ceased 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 and trim down its workforce to around 12,000 last 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 Friday 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 the 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.
It was severely affected by the 2008-2012 global financial crisis.
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.
On June 12, 2013, they had put in place Rp 20 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.
Multiply Investor Secretary Rong Rongbin pledged shares of Star Platinum Corporation, which holds 99% of its shares, to borrow HK$300 million from Xiesheng Xiefeng to save the Multiply website but did not repay on time; therefore, Xiesheng Xiefeng in July 2013, it acquired the full equity of Star Platinum. It was also reported that about HK$35 million in unpaid wages of 640 former employees and HK$18 million of Insolvency Fund were also paid after the company has acquired its majority stake.
The High Court on June 17, 2013 its liquidation proceedings and removed accounting firm Deloitte from its role as the firm’s provisional liquidator.
Derek Lai, vice-chair of Deloitte China, said on Tuesday that since Star Platinum had already resolved the major debts Multiply incurred, it was unlikely the internet company would go into liquidation despite still owing smaller debts to other creditors including Facebook.
“Star Platinum needs to negotiate with the remaining creditors,” he said. “I hope they will support its restructuring with Multiply.”
He added that Multiply now had a cash flow of HK$10 million to be paid to other creditors as well as assets worth over HK$40 million.
In its latest financial report last month, Co-Prosperity said the deal with Multiply could help the group diversify its business. Apart from the online industry, the group focuses on fabric and clothing trading, money lending and securities investments.
“The directors believe that the potential intrinsic value of Multiply can be realized if the plan to rescue Multiply is successful,” the report said.
The group said it could make use of Multiply’s remaining assets and turn the website into a archive photo and video site.
“The group has been granted access and usage of certain assets of Multiply which shall enable Multiply to continue to operate and act as a archive photo and video site taking advantage of its 100,000 square-meter facility and social networking portion that 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,” it said.
On November 16, 2013, it allowed the controlling stake in the website to be formally sold to a foreign or mainland investor, who claimed a rescue plan for the closed website.
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 10, 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, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, 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.
That the site will be reopened after United States President Obama steps down from the office on January 20, 2017 and keeping Facebook as the sole social networking site. The process of the reopening will be managed by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations through the Development Bank of the Philippines. Business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan is one of the possible bidders for the website's reopening in which ABC Development Corporation (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 ABC Development Corporation.
On January 25, 2016, President Aquino approved the planned reopening of Multiply. The reopening will 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 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.
Months later, that article in Wikipedia was being vandalized, it was edit is made by a sockpuppet of Lian Las Pinas.
However, when President Rodrigo Duterte came to power on June 30, 2016, the website remains closed.
According to the sources, the website would remain shuttered when the president was still in office until June 30, 2022.
The site will be fully re-opened its operations 100 days after President Barack Obama stepped down in the office on January 20, 2017, at 12 noon (EST) and kept Facebook as the sole social networking site, but it wasn't materialized.
After the Inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, Magdalinski made a successful appeal to Trump for the restoration of the website.
On May 2, 2017, the Indonesian Parliament approved the draft of re-opening Multiply.com, as well their operations, its subsidiary Multiply International and the social networking portion including 18 million users with hosted blogs, videos, photos, and messaging would be recovered and also voted and approved the draft of re-opening this website.
The website went down in history as the victim of the global financial crisis when it closed on May 6, 2013, and ceased all business operations on May 31, 2013.
On April 1, 2019, the company issued a bankruptcy court filing which stated that it would no longer auction off its intellectual property, since its controlling lender planned to "the business behind the Multiply brand name" with their new mobile app, delivering old accounts, photos and videos from the old Multiply from it's launch in March 2004 to March 15, 2013, and establishing new opportunities. The company evaluated that selling its brand at auction is "not reasonably likely to yield a superior alternative."
Magdalinski said he had proposed to the website’s board plans and strategies which would include another set of efforts that should bring the company to profitability in the next couple of years.
“I’ve actually presented to the board some of the things that I like to do and because of the current struggles of the business when it comes to views, and correspondingly revenues. So an important pivot that we will do is, of course, we will still continue to offer social networking, but we want to maximize the assets that we have, that have by putting in more shows that more and more people will use the computer,” Magdalinski said in an interview.
It is expecting to resume its operations next year, after it announced President Rodrigo R. Duterte lifted the closure on August 22.
“Hopefully, next week basta ma-comply nila lahat ng requirement (I hope net week for compliant operators),” Multiply.com Philippines president Katherine Chloe S. de Castro-Cruz told reporters in a briefing Friday.
On October 15, 2019, the response of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, when asked about the bankruptcy and potential demise of e-commerce and social networking site Multiply.
There was no direct response when asked if the President's previous statements were true that he would approve the reopening of a website, Panelo said.
Such statements by the president were simply out of frustration.
The management announced that it would engage in a decade-long rehabilitation effort, including the importation of old and new features such as similar to Facebook Live until Multiply is reopened by June 1, 2025; however, there were plans to partially re-open within 2021 depending on the social networking portion.
On Monday, December 30, 2019, Duterte again warned Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinski that syndicated estafa charges “have no bail” and that he was determined to see them in jail.
On January 2, 2020, President Duterte doesn’t just make threats, he will pursue the filing of syndicated estafa charges against the CEO and owner of defunct E-commerce and social networking site Multiply over financial difficulties and corporate rehabilitation, Malacañang said on Thursday.
“Pag sinabi ni Presidente, tutuluyan niya iyan (When the President says something, he will really do it),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
It then began the arduous task of resuming its operations.
To recall, according to Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, Chair of the Senate Public Services Committee, and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez on the process to reopen Multiply as a social networking site, to compete with Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines granted their application for an increase in capitalization and amendments to Multiply's articles of incorporation and by-laws.
Multiply inaugurated its office in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City in 2020 and began test broadcasts by the end of 2021, officially returning its operations.
Naspers will conduct a partial reopening of Multiply to former users by January 2022.
It said the dry run, scheduled from January 6 to 16, will allow the parent company to assess what else needs to be done before the website will be reopened to all users on June 30, 2022, at midnight Manila time.
Remember that House Bill has to be signed into law.
And it has to go through the Senate first (first reading, committee approval, 2nd reading, and 3rd reading) before being signed into law.
Bicam pa.
Seems the two Great Houses of Congress are fast these days. Let us see how fast they will approve this.
You missed a step, Committee Hearings on either Houses of Congress.
The company obtained its congressional franchise in April 2023 and was granted provisional authority to operate a social networking service in May 2023.
The site will be fully re-opened its operations 100 days after President Barack Obama stepped down in the office on January 20, 2017, at 12 noon (EST) and kept Facebook as the sole social networking site, but it wasn't materialized.
After the Inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, Magdalinski made a successful appeal to Trump for the restoration of the website.
On May 2, 2017, the Indonesian Parliament approved the draft of re-opening Multiply.com, as well their operations, its subsidiary Multiply International and the social networking portion including 18 million users with hosted blogs, videos, photos, and messaging would be recovered and also voted and approved the draft of re-opening this website.
The website went down in history as the victim of the global financial crisis when it closed on May 6, 2013, and ceased all business operations on May 31, 2013.
On April 1, 2019, the company issued a bankruptcy court filing which stated that it would no longer auction off its intellectual property, since its controlling lender planned to "the business behind the Multiply brand name" with their new mobile app, delivering old accounts, photos and videos from the old Multiply from it's launch in March 2004 to March 15, 2013, and establishing new opportunities. The company evaluated that selling its brand at auction is "not reasonably likely to yield a superior alternative."
Magdalinski said he had proposed to the website’s board plans and strategies which would include another set of efforts that should bring the company to profitability in the next couple of years.
“I’ve actually presented to the board some of the things that I like to do and because of the current struggles of the business when it comes to views, and correspondingly revenues. So an important pivot that we will do is, of course, we will still continue to offer social networking, but we want to maximize the assets that we have, that have by putting in more shows that more and more people will use the computer,” Magdalinski said in an interview.
It is expecting to resume its operations next year, after it announced President Rodrigo R. Duterte lifted the closure on August 22.
“Hopefully, next week basta ma-comply nila lahat ng requirement (I hope net week for compliant operators),” Multiply.com Philippines president Katherine Chloe S. de Castro-Cruz told reporters in a briefing Friday.
On October 15, 2019, the response of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, when asked about the bankruptcy and potential demise of e-commerce and social networking site Multiply.
There was no direct response when asked if the President's previous statements were true that he would approve the reopening of a website, Panelo said.
Such statements by the president were simply out of frustration.
The management announced that it would engage in a decade-long rehabilitation effort, including the importation of old and new features such as similar to Facebook Live until Multiply is reopened by June 1, 2025; however, there were plans to partially re-open within 2021 depending on the social networking portion.
On Monday, December 30, 2019, Duterte again warned Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinski that syndicated estafa charges “have no bail” and that he was determined to see them in jail.
On January 2, 2020, President Duterte doesn’t just make threats, he will pursue the filing of syndicated estafa charges against the CEO and owner of defunct E-commerce and social networking site Multiply over financial difficulties and corporate rehabilitation, Malacañang said on Thursday.
“Pag sinabi ni Presidente, tutuluyan niya iyan (When the President says something, he will really do it),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
It then began the arduous task of resuming its operations.
To recall, according to Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, Chair of the Senate Public Services Committee, and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez on the process to reopen Multiply as a social networking site, to compete with Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines granted their application for an increase in capitalization and amendments to Multiply's articles of incorporation and by-laws.
Multiply inaugurated its office in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City in 2020 and began test broadcasts by the end of 2021, officially returning its operations.
Naspers will conduct a partial reopening of Multiply to former users by January 2022.
It said the dry run, scheduled from January 6 to 16, will allow the parent company to assess what else needs to be done before the website will be reopened to all users on June 30, 2022, at midnight Manila time.
Remember that House Bill has to be signed into law.
And it has to go through the Senate first (first reading, committee approval, 2nd reading, and 3rd reading) before being signed into law.
Bicam pa.
Seems the two Great Houses of Congress are fast these days. Let us see how fast they will approve this.
You missed a step, Committee Hearings on either Houses of Congress.
According to CEO and owner Magdalinski in his press release last February 19 at midnight, "Calls to return the blog platform and social networking portion of Multiply be reopen will have to wait until the next presidential administration."
Tech bloggers said the world is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Duterte maintained on July 26, 2021, that the E-commerce marketplace and social networking site Multiply still has unsettled taxes with the government worth billions of pesos.
In his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA), Duterte vented frustrations over Multiply’s supposed dishonesty by importing its equipment “tax-free”.
“Kaya talaga ako hindi papayag. They still owe government billions,” Duterte said.
Duterte, however, clarified that he is not holding a grudge against Multiply.
He said he even chose to keep silent over Multiply’s actions because he did not want to appear “vindictive.”
He, however, said he could not stomach the fact that Multiply is “cheating the government.”
“Wala akong problema sa Multiply. They got my money. They wanted to return it when the case blew up but they printed all garbage. Nilamon ko na lang lahat yun because I never wanted to appear vindictive but itong ano, they are cheating the government by billions in taxes,” (I have no problem with Multiply. They got my money. They wanted to return it when the case blew up but they printed all garbage. I just swallowed it all because I never wanted to appear vindictive but what is this, they are cheating the government with billions in taxes) Duterte said.
Duterte, in his previous speeches, has repeatedly said he would not allow Multiply to resume business operations along with the blog portal and social networking portion under his watch.
On July 27, 2021, SBMA Chairperson Wilma T. Eisma said in a briefing that discussions are at 99.99%, and she is hoping to announce the reopening before yearend.
“We are very excited because it means jobs will be back and the social networking portion will be fully operational together with the Multiply International site has reopened and accessible again,” she said.
On October 18, 2021, when senatorial aspirant Rafael "Raffy" Tulfo is among those who support the reopening of the Multiply.com social networking site to restore jobs for Filipinos and foreigners.
 |
| Raffy Tulfo |
Tulfo said 12,000 Multiply workers lost their jobs after the website ceased its operations and shut down entirely on May 31, 2013.
“Of course. Kasi why I’m pro mga manggagawa na naapi, nawalan ng trabaho, na nadedehado,” (Of course. Because why I’m pro workers who have been oppressed, lost their jobs, who are disadvantaged) he told ANC’s Headstart host Karen Davila when asked about his support for the Multiply social network reopening.
“In this case I know mahigit 12,000 na empleyado ng Multiply na nawalan ng trabaho because of that,” (In this case I know more than 12,000 Multiply employees who lost their jobs because of that) the veteran broadcaster said.
In a television interview on December 21, 2021, Senator Imee Marcos was asked about her stand on the re-opening of the social networking service website Multiply should her brother get elected as president in next year’s elections.
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| Imee Marcos |
“To my mind Multiply, under the new construct defined by law and all the problems that have been already revealed, once it solves all that, para sa akin walang problemang buksan yan, first 100 days para makita natin (for me there is no problem with its re-opening, even on the first 100 days so that we can see),” the senator said in an interview with Davila on ANC's Headstart.
According to Ryan Ang: “Is this a sign that they will open and resume operations this 2022?”
It quoted "Ano kaya? Ang Magbabalik ABANGAN ... Ito na kaya ang pag babalik ng Multiply!"
"I think Bongbong Marcos' chances of winning is like 90% so on that front, I am very optimistic. Going back to this Multiply, as one of the avid Multiply users, I am so glad that this website is finally coming true. It, together with the other websites being shuttered would be a great help for downloading and retrieving photos and videos. I hope that this kind will continue in the next Philippine Government administrations."
Under the new presidential administration, the website will make a comeback: to construct a new modern, permanent Philippine headquarters building in Clark, Pampanga with a data center, hire former employees, and re-updating the 2013 Multiply logo (Flat variant version).
On June 30, 2022, the new administration forged a compromise with the shareholders involved, just to break the deadlock and get the website going.
On August 19, 2022, it finally agreed on the social networking portion of Multiply. According to Magdalinski, it has decided to reopen the website along with all business operations, the Multiply International site, and the social networking portion including 11 million users with hosted blogs, videos, photos, and messaging. It is set to sign the final agreement on August 31, according to Mon Jocson of UNTV.
On September 28, 2022, it forged a consensus with shareholders on the social networking portion of Multiply.
Prosus N.V. is set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to finalize the agreement.
The website which has photos, videos, and blog entries from March 2004 to March 2013, will provide features similar to Facebook Live and Instagram.
Getting all parties to agree was among the targets set by CEO Magdalinski within the first 100 days in office of the new presidency, and it involved engaging all shareholders in meetings in order to reach a consensus.
Magdalinski, along with Multiply founder Pezaris and former country manager for the Philippines Jack Madrid will sign a term sheet for the Multiply social network ending a 9-year closure of the website.
With the planned reopening of Multiply as a social networking service website and application, Multiply Media LLC will cease to exist.
But it was restarted operating the website after the end of the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte on October 8, 2022, the only social networking site to do so. Technology bloggers said that Multiply to re-establish itself as a social networking site and restart operating after the end of the Duterte administration.
The resolution of the nine-year closure of the E-commerce marketplace Multiply, along with all business operations, the Multiply International site, and the social networking portion including 11 million users with hosted blogs, videos, photos, and messaging for the first 100 days of the Marcos, Jr. administration.
"When the Marcos, Jr. administration took office on June 30, 2022, We were greeted with numerous long-standing issues that have tormented the country for years, and even decades. I remember fully well when we were only starting to take on the challenge five (5) years ago. The Filipino people have pinned their hopes on the new administration – with eyes intently and critically watching us on what we would do next? It enumerated the real issues before such as the controversial non-renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN and the shutdown of E-commerce marketplace Multiply"
Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, will hold a public hearing on February 13, 2023, on the reopening of the social networking site Multiply.
The hearing will be held at noon in the Laurel Room, Philippine Senate.
The committee has invited Magdalinski, Pezaris, Madrid, and concerned shareholders of the website.
Magdalinski quoted in his post: "Hope. Finally, we will 1 day be back online. Finally, we will re-open Multiply. Finally, we will 1 day start our 20th year!"
According to Isel Ramos: "Multiply is renovating and it will re-open in the next several months as an archive photo and video site with a new mobile application on Android and Apple IOS."
