ORDER Esports Files for Bankruptcy
Administrator meeting with creditors set for later this month.
Melbourne, Australia-based esports organization ORDER Esports has entered into voluntary administration (bankruptcy), with Shane Justin Cremin of Melbourne-based insolvency firm Rodgers Reidy appointed as administrator on Aug. 12, according to a public notice. The company has not made an official public announcement on this news and the social media accounts of CEO Marc Edwards have suddenly gone offline. The news was first reported by Australian publication The Australian and amplified on social media by Dot Esports Australian Editor Isaac McIntyre. A meeting with creditors is set for Aug. 24, according to another public filing.
The Fudge Retort reached out to ORDER Chairman and Founder Gerard Murphy who declined to comment, instead directing us to Rodgers Reidy Director David Holton. Holton issued the following statement via email Wednesday morning:
“We are running an accelerated sale of business campaign with all assets being made available (however timing of any sale will ultimately determine which trading partners, teams and employees are still with ORDER). We have around a dozen interested parties who are at various stages of their consideration with offers due on Tuesday 23 August.
“Whilst we are still quantifying the debts, the amounts owed to the general trade creditors are around $200,000 [AUD].”
According to what Cremin told The Australian Tuesday, he believes that ORDER can be sold to pay off its debt and that "a dozen" companies have shown interest. Further, he hopes that current staff who have been laid off would be brought on by whoever makes the purchase. It is unclear as of this writing just how much ORDER owes to its creditors.
According to reporting from Dot Esports Australian correspondent Isaac McIntyre, ORDER staff were told about the situation on Monday, with team players and related staff informed of the situation on Tuesday, alongside partners associated with ORDER teams.
One thing that remains unclear is what has become of any content creators under contract with ORDER, or if the company has informed them, as of this writing. In addition, ORDER renewed a contract with Riot Games in January to host official Oceanic Teamfight Tactics esports events until the middle of 2023—which makes one wonder if this contractual obligation terminates with the sale of the company or becomes part of the deal (pending Riot approval, we would assume).
All of this news comes as a bit off a shock to outsiders; ORDER raised around $5.3M AUD (roughly $4.11M based on an exchange rate of 1 AUD = roughly .776 USD in April of 2021 when the deal was finalized) just last year from a capital raise led by CPS Capital's Jason Peterson and Gemelli Group Chairman Harry Karelis.
This news follow our reporting in early July that mass layoffs had hit the company. At the time ORDER Chairman and Founder Gerard Murphy told me that it was taking austerity measure due to a shifting marketplace and a volatile economy, but it is highly unlikely that the company didn't know in early July that it was headed toward insolvency this month.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a comment from Rodgers Reidy and a correction on the spelling of the firm’s name. We have also added more context to the story.