Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE) has filed for bankruptcy just two years after acquiring DVD rental company Redbox. The company, which also owns the advertising-supported video-on-demand streaming service Crackle, has accrued nearly $1 billion in debt owed to more than 500 creditors, including Walmart, Walgreens, and Sony Pictures.
The news of CSSE’s bankruptcy filing came just two days after Deadline reported that the company was nearly a week late in paying its employees and had suspended workers’ health care benefits. According to the filing, Redbox currently operates around 27,000 DVD rental kiosks at retailers across the United States.
When CSSE acquired Redbox in 2022, it took on $325 million of the DVD rental company’s debt. As of the end of March, CSSE had around $400 million in assets. The company declined to comment beyond the court filing.
CSSE’s stock has fallen nearly 90% over the past year and was trading at around $0.12 on Monday following the news of the bankruptcy filing. It is unclear what will happen to Redbox’s operations as a result of this bankruptcy but one thing is for sure that this will have a significant impact on both companies and their employees.
