TomorrowWorld promoter SFX "is currently exploring a fire sale of its assets," the New York Business Journal reports, and problems plaguing the weekend's metro Atlanta area music festival appear to be battering the parent company's financial picture:
"Shares of SFX fell 7.5 percent on Monday on the heels of reports that a downpour outside of Atlanta stranded many festival goers of one of SFX's events. The TomorrowWorld festival, which took place over the weekend in Chattahoochee Hills, left SFX holding the bag regarding refunds and lost concessions from what was expected to be a major event with 190,000 people attending over the course of three days."
A Billboard article titled "TomorrowWorld Problems Didn't Go Unnoticed By Wall Street as SFX Shares Plummet" notes:
The costs of refunds and lost concessions from this major event -- expected to draw 190,000 people over three days -- could damage the third-quarter earnings of the EDM promoter.
Here's a look at their stock chart, via Nasdaq:
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
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A change of ownership might cheer TomorrowWorld festival goers dismayed by the event's disorganization. Cassie Foley of Baltimore said she might come back next year if someone else was in charge.
"If it’s not put on by the same company I think I would try to redo it," she told the AJC.
SFX brands include Tomorrowland, TomorrowWorld, Mysteryland, Sensation, Stereosonic, Electric Zoo, Disco Donnie Presents, Life in Color, Nature One, Mayday, Decibel, Q-Dance, Awakenings, React Presents, Beatport, Flavorus, Paylogic, according to its SEC filings information.
"We believe we are the largest global producer of live events and digital entertainment content focused exclusively on the electronic music culture ("EMC") and other world-class festivals," its SEC filing information says. "We view EMC as a global generational movement driven by a rapidly developing community of avid electronic music followers among the millennial generation. Our mission is to enable this movement by providing our fans with the best possible live experiences, music discovery and connectivity with other fans."
Few TomorrowWorld festival goers appear to have had the best possible live experience over the weekend.
"There was no organization, nobody knew what was going on," said Kevin Smith of Sugar Hill, one of many fans forced to walk for miles on Saturday night after shuttles to the site quit running. "It was a complete failure."
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
TomorrowWorld has not responded to the AJC's request for comment but did post a statement of regret on its Facebook page and information regarding refunds on its home page. It cited "continuous and unexpected rainfall" as the culprit behind problems people experienced.
"It did not rain that much," Smith said. "There were no thunderstorms or flooding type rains. It did rain some and I understand wet dirt roads with the amount of traffic on them we get muddy very quickly. Tomorrow World should have had some kind of plan, but they just lied to everyone and abandoned them. I was prepared for a rain but they were not."
