Redbox SPAC

Founded in 2002, Redbox offers video rentals through a network of thousands of self-service entertainment kiosks nationwide. In the last twenty years, Redbox has grown to 34,000 locations across the US and rented over 1 billion discs to consumers. Redbox went public via SPAC merger in 2021 that promised $145M in cash $50M in PIPE funding and valued the company at $693M. At the time, private equity firm Apollo Global held a 59 stake in Redbox. Like most SPAC decks, Redboxs projections were sky high expecting over $1B in revenue by 2023. Due to poor financials, Redbox stock sunk from $10 in October 2021 to under $2 and was delisted on June 30, 2022. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment came to the rescue with a $375M acquisition deal an 88 discount on the IPO price. To finance the sale, Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt and has since been sued over a dozen times over unpaid bills. On June 30, 2024 two years after the Redbox SPAC was delisted, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for bankruptcy. According to the bankruptcy filing, Chicken Soup owed $970 million altogether to Redbox partners including Walmart, Walgreens, and major studios like Universal, Sony, Lionsgate and Warner Bros.