50 Cent

Discussion in 'The Cocktail Lounge' started by ScooterBrandon, Jul 15, 2015.

  1. ScooterBrandon

    ScooterBrandon Senior Investor

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    http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2015/07/13/rapper-50-cent-files-for-bankruptcy/
    Any young-in's here will know this guy, he was a rapper that got shot "9 times" and spun that into a career that included a few "club bangers" a movie, some mines in Africa and a vitamin water concern.
    He's pretty darn rich now.
    Then he got sued over some sex tape scandal and has to pay $5 million. This resulted in him declaring chapter 11.
    What really grinds my gears over this story is what's being played out on my Facebook feed.
    SO MANY people are posting jokes about him being broke and the such, what bothers me is the lack of any understanding what's going on here.
    Chapter 11 doesn't mean your broke! It's pretty concerning how little the general public understand finance.
    What do you guys and gals think?
     
  2. Sunflogun

    Sunflogun Well-Known Member

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    So this is far more complex than I thought. It doesn't mean he's broke, but just some legal complications and most likely a way that his lawyers have discovered to save him some money.
     
  3. pwarbi

    pwarbi Senior Investor

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    While it's true that there's a big difference between a chapter 11 and declaring bankruptcy, what's more concerning to me is the fact that he's had to go down that route in the first place.

    When you look at the amount of money that stars such as 50 cent are making and how many of them end up getting into financial difficulties, seems to suggest to me they need to be better advised.
     
  4. Penny

    Penny Well-Known Member

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    Chapter 11 is just a way to legally stop creditors being able to contact you and ask for their darn money. So the woman he deliberately humiliated, and who won the settlement, still will not get it while he delays even more. During chapter 11 his businesses get to operate as normal.

    Even by his admission is net worth is twice the amount of the two judgements against him, he could liquidate and pay. In reality many estimates place his true net worth at six times that amount. But he gets to pay how and when is most convenient to him.

    Basically because he is wealthy and has good lawyers the victim just has to wait and wait and wait while he uses every trick in the book to minimise the impact on him of his own disgusting and malicious actions.

    Financially he is doing just fine.
     
  5. AtlantaSports

    AtlantaSports Senior Investor

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    I had to read a whole article on this to realize that 50 is not actually broke. It's crazy how uninformed I was haha.
     
  6. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Bankruptcy laws are stricter than they used to be.

    This is a PERSONAL bankruptcy. Apparently his debts (between $10 million to 50 million) are consumer debt, NOT business debt.

    His assets are also stated at between $10 mil to $50 mil. We'll have to wait to see exactly how much he's worth and how much he owes. He has apparently reduced the selling price of his home from $20 mil to $10 mil recently, and it's also been reported that he's been sued for $17.2 mil over the headphones as well. And apparently he is personally liable for that - it appears that he did not use a corp to separate the headphone biz from his personal estate, if reports are correct.

    I don't know if he's broke or in the red or not. But these rappers, athletes, and other entertainers are notorious for blowing through many millions and ruining themselves financially. Filing bankruptcy is not a good thing - not an indication that you're doing everything right. It's something to be avoided if possible - particularly personal BK.

    Filing personal or even business BK will make it difficult or impossible to hold many professional licenses, and is something that certain professions will require you disclose publicly (plus it becomes public record). It will shut many doors for future employment opportunities if / when he's no longer in demand as an entertainer and needs to do something else for a living.

    I would not be at all shocked if he's blown through most of that $155 million or whatever and is in the red. Some of these "entertainer" guys are known for owning 10-20 or more high end cars at a time, spending hundreds of thousands a night at clubs and casinos, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if his house and cars have mortgages / loans on them and if he has tax problems as well.
     
  7. rightct

    rightct Well-Known Member

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    Methinks he's just grasping at straws way too desperately there. He doesn't have a chance. It's way too obvious what he intends to do, but I guess that hope dies last after all, haha.
     
  8. Penny

    Penny Well-Known Member

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    Regardless, there will be no sympathy from me. He stole an inventors idea and humiliated a woman by posting a sex tape she did not agree to. That is pretty much the definition of dishonesty and immorality. And it had nothing to do with his music which is pretty catchy.

    If he does end up on his uppers, he brought it on himself.
     
  9. niiro17

    niiro17 Well-Known Member

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    I was shocked when I saw that he was Bankrupt at first but when I read an article about it and learned about Chapter 11 and stuff. Good thing I read articles first before jumping into conclusions.
     
  10. pwarbi

    pwarbi Senior Investor

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    For any normal person, to have that amount of money, or even half that would be a dream come true. I'm sure the rest of us on here would certainly still be a lot more cautious though with what we spend, so I don't understand the mentality of the rich and famous.

    How often do you here about recording artists or NFL players being worth so many millions, only for 3 years later, they're selling their gold discs or super bowl rings on eBay just to live.
     

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