The company that owns Redbox, Crackel, and the streaming app with the same name is Chicken Soup For The Soul.
The company has been hit hard lately by a drop in ad income on its free streaming services and a drop in DVD rentals at its Redboxes. A SEC report first seen by NextTV shows that this is why the company’s sales dropped 75% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same time in 2023.
After buying Redbox in 2022 for $50 million in stock and taking on $325 million in debt, Chicken Soup For The Soul is in a tough spot. It’s not looking good for the company because the media industry is unstable, ad sales are falling, and the company is losing money every quarter. William J. Rouhana, the CEO of the company, said in August that it was doing a strategic review to look at its prospects. This is business speak for putting the company up for sale.
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Back in October of this year, Chicken Soup for the Soul said that it was in talks with possible buyers about a sale. But as of now, nothing has come of these talks.
Like many other media companies, they have probably been hurt by a weak ad market that has made it harder to make money. For a business that depends on ad-supported streaming, this market has to be bad for the service. The business seems sure that they will be able to solve these problems and pay their partners right now. For now, we need to wait and see what takes place.
The folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul haven’t reacted to our request for comment yet.
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