cdv software entertainment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
cdv Software Entertainment AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1989
resolution 2010
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Frankfurt am Main , Germany
management Christian Gloe , CEO
Arne Peters COO
Number of employees 59 (4th quarter 2007)
sales approx. 14.9 million euros (2007)

old logo
Variant of the old logo

The cdv Software Entertainment AG was one of the two German at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange -listed publishers of entertainment software, in particular PC and console games (also: Frogster Interactive Pictures ). On April 13, 2010 cdv had to file for bankruptcy. The company's most successful brands were the Cossacks series, with over 1.7 million copies sold worldwide, and the Sudden Strike series, with a similar sales figure. cdv was listed in the General Standard (until 2006 in the Prime Standard ), WKN A0MF05.

history

The company was founded in 1989 by Wolfgang Gäbler and Christina Oppermann as a partnership in Karlsruhe and later converted into a stock corporation. Since it was founded, products such as Doom , Duke Nukem , Sudden Strike, Cossacks and Codename: Panzers have been placed in the German and international charts. On April 17, 2000, the company went public. By successful games Sudden Strike and Cossacks of 2000 was sales of 14.5 million euros compared to last year more than doubled, and a profit of 1.8 million euros are generated. In the following year, sales of the same games as well as add-ons for them resulted in an increase in sales to almost EUR 22 million and a profit of EUR 1.2 million. In 2001 cdv was the largest German publisher of PC games in the full price segment with a market share of 4.6% .

In 2002 sales stagnated and a loss of 185,000 euros had to be reported due to a considerable expansion of the company. In 2003 there was even a loss of almost 11 million euros due to unscheduled depreciation of 7.2 million euros on games whose development was either stopped or that did not meet sales expectations (including Lula 3D and Neocron ). Due to this liquidity situation, which "threatened the continued existence of the company", around half of the workforce was laid off.

In 2004, however, the success of the game Codename Panzers - Phase One and an add-on for Blitzkrieg again made a profit of 2.5 million euros. Also in 2005 no loss had to be shown in the annual financial statements, however, the games Cossacks 2, Codename Panzers - Phase Two and Blitzkrieg 2 did not achieve the desired success, as "the sales of these products overall were at the lower end of expectations". It can also be observed that the former board members Gäbler (chairman of the board / CEO since the foundation of the AG until June 2005) and Oppermann are reducing their shares in the company. Whereas in 2003 both together held 54.14%, in 2007 it was only 9.11%.

In 2006 the share price fell to a record low; At the 2006 annual financial statements, the company reported a loss of more than 8.2 million euros. Because more than half of the share capital had been used up , cdv was obliged by Section 92 (1) AktG to convene an extraordinary general meeting. In the presentation for this meeting, the cdv board speaks of an impending "insolvency in the 3rd quarter". To avert insolvency, all rights to the games War Front: Turning Point, Panzer Tactics and Jack Keane were sold in August . In addition, this publication is considering, among other things, cutting around a third of the workforce, which was completed by the end of the third quarter. The cdv Board shall at the end of this presentation a comparison with competitors as follows: "! Cdv is excellently positioned compared to the competition" For the 2006 financial statements also one was balance sheet indebtedness of 1.9 million euros stated, however, picked up by a 2005 Subordinated loan (see also mezzanine capital ) of EUR 3.8 million is covered.

In order to reorganize the company, a zero coupon convertible bond was issued in 2007 and the share capital was reduced from 1.62 million euros to 202,500 euros. In May, after the company GDD-Holding had brought various companies (Gamesmania GmbH, POS Service GmbH, SevenM GmbH) into the AG, cdv increased the share capital again by 810,000 euros. Through this measure, Jens Röhrborn, owner of GDD Holding, briefly received over 71 percent of the voting rights in the AG. In addition, cdv shifted the focus of its business from publishing to sales.

After only a few employees were still active in the company and the share price had been tumbling for some time, the CDV filed for bankruptcy on April 12, 2010.

Published titles (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article from GameStar.de
  2. ↑ a b c cdv annual accounts 2003 ( memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ cdv annual financial statements 2005 p. 3 (quotation), PDF
  4. ↑ Faz.net share details  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.faz.net
  5. ↑ cdv share price archive link ( memento of the original dated August 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kurse.exchange.de
  6. ↑ cdv annual financial statements 2006 ( PDF ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  7. ↑ a b cdv quarterly report 2/06 ( PDF ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  8. ↑ a b c cdv board presentation at the extraordinary general meeting on November 6, 2006 (quotation p. 4 and p. 19), PDF ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ cdv company profile (number of employees) CDV Software Entertainment AG ( Memento from April 10, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ cdv quarterly report 3/06 ( PDF ( Memento of January 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  11. ↑ DGAP announcement on the voting rights on July 27, 2007 [1]
  12. ↑ DGAP-Adhoc: cdv Software Entertainment AG: Application for bankruptcy