Dixie Seeking Investors... Billy buys in so there could be June Tapings

Over the past week, PWInsider.com has heard multiple reports that TNA was seeking outside investors to come on board with the company. We had also heard that President Dixie Carter was seen in Los Angeles specifically for those meetings, including one at the Pop offices.

We reached out earlier this week, requesting comment from TNA. This evening, TNA Executive Vice President,Creative & Talent Relations John Gaburick returned PWInsider.com's request for comment via telephone.

When asked whether the company was seeking outside investors, Gaburick confirmed that was the case, noting, "TNA has been in in strategic partnership talks with several major global media companies and investment firms about the company's next phase of growth."

Gabrick, as you might imagine given the nature of the ongoing conversations, would not confirm who any potential partners were.

Gaburick did confirm that Carter was in Los Angeles for meetings, adding that she and the "TNA Executive team" have spent a lot of time of late not just in LA but also in New York City. Gaburick noted, "TNA CEO Dixie Carter has talked in recent media interviews about the company's execution of its 5 year growth plan" and that the meetings were in line with making those plans happen, adding, "It's a very exciting time for TNA."

Gaburick declined comment when asked for additional details, again citing that conversations were ongoing.

More as PWInsider.com confirms additional details.

After PWInsider broke that TNA was seeking outside investors last night, we've been hit with a number of questions, so I'm going to answer them, to the best of our knowledge, as of this morning.

Why is TNA looking for investors?

As far as why the company is looking for investors, it's this simple: Dixie Carter wants the company to be bigger.  She wants TNA to have a bigger piece of the pie.  TNA, in it's current state (we've heard the company has severely cut back on office space in the last few months and cut talents who were originally scheduled for the UK tour from that tour), can't do that.  TNA is stuck where they are and while that might keep them going, it's not going to make the company profitable long-term. So, they are looking for ways to build the company up.   TNA claims to have a five-year plan for their future.  An infusion of capital will help them achieve whatever that plan is.  A new partner coming on board and taking a percentage of the company will help them achieve that.

Where's Panda Energy?

As we've written about in the past here on PWInsider.com, all TNA operations and all TNA paychecks, etc. are now coming out of Nashville, TN.  The belief is that while Panda may still be an owner in name, they are not actively involved in any aspect of TNA operations going forward, nor are they continuing to fund the company.    It is believed that this went down around the same time when Jeff Jarrett was bought out of his minority stake in the company last year.  By all accounts, Panda has not been fronting the bills for some time.

I thought the new TV deals overseas were helping?

They are helping.  They can keep the company afloat, but Dixie Carter wants to be a player and she can't be with what she has to work with at the moment.  So, they are looking for potential outside investments and partnerships.   Whether there will be a deal and whether it can help TNA, we will see.

Who are they talking to?

Obviously, TNA isn't going to say who they are talking to, but we've heard one group was based in the UK and we know they've met with others in LA and NY, including meetings at the Pop Network.

Is TNA for sale?

Everyone I've spoken to around TNA has been careful to say they are looking for partners, but let's call a spade a spade - if someone came along with the right price, even if Dixie Carter wasn't initially looking to sell, she'd consider it, as would anyone, if the right offer came along.  John Gaburick repeatedly said, however, they were looking for a "strategic partner", not a new owner...and Dixie Carter has turned down sale offers before.  However, to me, this is a big TBD.

It's hard to believe people would invest in TNA in 2016.

TNA will be moving their corporate headquarters by the beginning of May, PWInsider.com has confirmed.  The company will be leaving their longtime offices at Cummins Station and will be moving all operations to the warehouse the company has housed their ShopTNA.com operations out of.  The move has been planned for some time.  TNA has been at the Cummins Station location since Dixie Carter and Panda Energy first came on board with the company.  Carter's previous company, Trifecta, had been located there.

TNA's Production office will be moving to NorthStar Productions in Nashville, which is the biggest HD Production facility in the city.  The production office will not be located at the same facility as TNA HQ

copying from elsewhere what Big Dave said about it on Today's Observer Audio
TNA isn't moving from their offices to their warehouse by choice. They're moving because they were evicted from the office. Dave didn't literally say they were evicted for not paying the rent but he did say it shows what kind of financial shape the company is in, which certainly implies it.

Dixie had rented out part of the office building before she was even part of TNA, back in her publicity days. Dave says while TNA says they are looking for investors "to grow", they actually need the money for things like paying for talent's airfare and booking the Impact Zone for the next tapings.

Dave says there is someone out there that is willing to buy TNA for the right price, but they want to have a controlling interest. Dixie doesn't want to give up the control, but he feels like she is going to have to and will eventually have to make this sale.

Dave also made it sound like Pop told TNA that they were moving the Impact replay only yesterday.

and Mike Johnson replies back with
Yesterday when we reported TNA would be leaving it's Cummings Stations location to move it's headquarters to a warehouse elsewhere in Nashville, we noted it was a move that had been planned for some time. There have been reports, originated by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, that the company was being evicted from the space. It's quite possible there is some truth to that, but we are told that the company knew for some time they would be moving to the new location by May 1st. One person in the company described it to me over the weekend that they were moving due to "leases expiring" and that the move has been planned for several months. It's entirely possible the company was told they would not be getting a new lease but this was not a case of the company rushing out under the cover of night or anything that was a sudden move. The ShopTNA.com aspect of the company, which was housed in the old HQ's basement, has been long gone from Cummings Station. The new space is described to me as a 20-25,000 square foot warehouse. As noted earlier today, the TNA production facilities will be moving to NorthStar Productions in Nashville, a well known production facility in the city.

Tonight's episode of Impact Wrestling is said to have some great promo work from Al Snow, Maria and The Hardys.

We are told the company's management is still meeting with potential backers and partners. In a staff meeting last week, TNA President Dixie Carter promised those assembled that big things were on the horizon. What those could be, I couldn't tell you.

In regard to the Impact Wrestling replay being moved to Saturdays, the belief is that the replay, coming immediately after Impact, wasn't bringing in a big enough number to justify remaining on Tuesday evenings. The hope is to try and position the Saturday replay as a way to test whether a secondary show could find some roots there. It was a move that TNA and POP made a decision about together, not the Network shifting the replay over without the company's knowledge. Pop is, by all means, happy with what TNA has brought to the cable network thus far.

this is the fucking "canceled" vs "not renewed" debate all over again.

LOL TNA LOL MIKE JOHNSON

Mike Johnson who basically started the death of TNA by getting them kicked off Spike TV by revealing that Russo was still working there loves to get into the semantics of things with Big Dave.

I could actually buy the replay airing being moved as not so a big issue, as ideally a newer network should want to push the first-run airing of new episodes of one of their top shows, rather than have immediate replays.

However, given TNA's history with other networks, this seems par the course for things not going so well for them with their network.

The office matters are just embarrassing and a harsh reality of how far this company has fallen.

In what I don't see as good news for TNA, Pop is taken the Days of Our Lives same day repeat off their schedule. They had to have been getting nearly the same ratings as TNA 5 days a week for Pop, They started airing on Pop just this last August.. and with that in mind, this info doesn't sound good.

PWTorch obtained the following ad sales information capturing Pop’s business position.

The March 29 TNA Impact generated $18,414 in ad revenue, which was less than half of its “Days of Our Lives” lead-in. Impact also generated less money for a 30-second ad than an acquired movie.

TNA Impact First-Run Airing Revenue: $18,414
Avg. unit cost for a 30-second ad: $335

Days of Our Lives lead-in Revenue: $44,135
Avg. unit cost for 30-second ad: $1,100-1,250

“You’ve Got Mail” acquired movie 30-second ad: $406.

I really can't see Pop airing Impact 6 months from now unless the airings start picking up a good amount of viewers or Pop really change their current format with more male viewers being the focus unless Dixie sell and who ever the Investor(s) really beg them for more time.

Hope everybody has that James Storm contract.

a 30 second ad on impact is $335? guys we can afford that.

ARE WE GONNA RUN AN AD ON IMPACT

WE SHOULD CONTACT INDY ABOUT THIS

Indy would just plug his DFS site and leave us high and dry.

i mean we probably dont want actual tna fans coming here so that might be for the best.

Wait is that real?

I might plug LP TEW for the lulz

from Dave's daily update..Things at TNA are coming to the 11th hour regarding a deal. Obviously Dixie Carter is attempting to make a deal that will allow her to maintain a majority ownership but one way or the other much of the company will be sold. There is one group that is the favorite to end up with the company but there is one more long shot play that is apparently still alive. The favorite group does have two people with wrestling experience with TNA among its key people. With TV starting Thursday, there is a feeling in the office that whatever goes down will be happening soon and that there will be changes made.

Aroluxe Marketing is the most likely investors... No joke...Ron and Don Harris are involved with these people...

from the observer
Aroluxe Marketing revealed as company negotiating with TNA

Dave Meltzer revealed today in a breaking news audio update that the company that Impact Wrestling/TNA has been negotiating with is Aroluxe, a company that former wrestlers Ron and Don Harris are involved with. The Harris brothers were mid-level stars in both the WWF and WCW in the late 90s and were brought in to TNA by former owner Jeff Jarrett when the company started.

Negotiations are still ongoing. TNA president Dixie Carter was hopeful of securing a deal whereby an investor would purchase 49% interest in the company, allowing her to maintain a majority interest. Whether she finds a company willing to do that or not, the company is in a crunch position as they are essentially out of money and will require a cash influx to get them through their next set of TV tapings scheduled for later this week.

If Carter is not able to find an investor willing to let her maintain control of the company there will obviously be a shakeup in the company and details of that are likely to come out in the next week or so

PWinsider and Mike Johnson side of things..

The future of TNA, long and short-term, has been a major topic of discussion over the last few weeks. With this week's Impact Wrestling tapings set for Universal Studios Florida, here is where things currently stand.

Since January 2016, TNA has been working with Aroluxe, a marketing and production company based in Tennessee that has taken over TNA's production as part of a deal that, according to multiple sources, sees Aroluxe handle all of the expenditures for TNA tapings and then sees TNA reimburse them for expenses as well as pay them for their services. Aroluxe is the company that former pro wrestlers Ron and Don Harris (then known as The Bruise Brothers) have been involved with. It provides TV Production, social media management, media buying, web management and other services to clients.

The word that has made the way around TNA performers in the past week is that a payment to Aroluxe is due imminently (one version of the story is that the payment is due today, another is that it is due Wednesday) and that based on TNA's contract with Aroluxe, if the payment is not made, Aroluxe would then be able to claim majority ownership of TNA Wrestling, leaving Dixie Carter a minority owner. We have not been able to 100% confirm that but that version of the story has made it's way around a big portion of the company's roster over the last seven days.

PWInsider reached out to a number of sources within TNA and none of them would be willing to discuss the situation, much less confirm what we have heard. One person told me that if anyone should comment on the situation, it should be Dixie Carter and no one else. PWInsider.com reached out to Carter this afternoon.

For those wondering where Panda Energy stands on the chess board, Panda completely divested themselves of TNA a long time ago and hasn't put money into the company dating back 4-5 years. They no longer have any ownership. Once Dixie Carter bought out Jeff Jarrett from his shares last year, she was the one and only stockholder. That may change later this week if reports we are hearing are correct.

In recent months, Ron and Don Harris have been regularly seen at the TNA offices and have been meeting with different areas of the company to the point that should Aroluxe take over, there likely wouldn't a blip since they are already familiar and integrated into how the company operates.

So, where things stand based on what we have heard appear to be going in one of two directions - TNA reimburses Aroluxe and things remain at their status quo or Aroluxe takes over the reigns of the company. It would appear that should the latter happen, Dixie Carter would remain in some capacity, although what this would mean for the remainder of the TNA officials, staff, roster, etc. remains up in the air.

Unless something unforeseen happens, such as Carter finding another buyer for the company who completely buys out herself and takes care of the Aroluxe issue, either way it's going to be a very interesting few days in Nashville before TNA gets to TV in Florida. It should be noted that there have been others interested in TNA in the past (and even in recent weeks, there's been talk of multiple interested parties), but Carter has previously turned down all sale offers. Depending on how the week goes, she may no longer be in that position.

Time will tell but we may be on the cusp of a new chapter for TNA Wrestling.

surely tna is on the upswing now.

Say hello to your new boss

TNA continues to get weirder and weirder by the year.

very high-up source = Dixie
By Mike Johnson

In speaking to a very high-up source within TNA tonight, I was told the company remains in discussions with "several strategic partners" and that those talks are stll moving forward. We are told there are three potential partners.

The source played down the idea that anything would be settled this week and felt the stories making the rounds could actually hurt the process (and potentially, the company). The source also floated the idea that all of the stories that are floating around could be attributed to one of the players trying to force TNA's hand by pushing it's own interest in the court of public opinion.

The source declined to comment on what PWInsider.com wrote about earlier today in regard to TNA's relationship with Aerolux.

Coming soon to Impact Wrestling: The new Championship Committee of "Heavy D" Don Harris, The Flying Elvises, Trytan, Joe E Legend and Cheex.

Loose transcript of Meltzer's audio from this morning

- Dave mentions Mike Johnson's report that TNA owes The Harris Brother's production company cash and if they don't pay them TNA becomes that production company's property. He says he's not saying that Johnson is wrong, but it's inconsistent with everything he's heard. All Dave heard was that TNA was "in negotiations" and these were the key people TNA was in negotiations with.

- TNA has been in negotiations with at least one other person/group, but "these guys" are the only ones interested in buying. Now, Dave wasn't entirely clear if he was referring just to the Harris Bros or the Harris Bros and this other second mystery potential investors as "these guys", but based on listening to it, I think he was only referring to the Harris Brothers.

- Dixie is still looking to sell a share of the company but keep the majority, and the control. Dave seems to say that Dixie was trying to sell 40% of the company in 10% pieces to different people, and no one was even interested in 10%. Dave says that TNA was going to a lot of people in the TV industry with this offer, including their television partners, and no one bit.

- Dave says TNA's financial position is really bad, to the point where if he went through the details, you would not believe it. He says that lets just say that when he says they're out of money, they're out of money.

- The Harris Brother's production company is not a huge company, Dave doesn't know how they'd be able to turn TNA around. They don't run the company, they don't control it, but they are employees featured on their company website.

- Dave was told about the Harris Brother's company interest in TNA a ways back, but he was told to keep it off the record due to the feeling that if the story got out, it would jeopardize the possibility of it happening. Dave says he said what he did yesterday because the story was getting out then no matter what (Obviously due to the Voices of Wrestling leak). Also several other people yesterday once this all went down decided to talk to Dave on the record about it. Dave says the leak does potentially hurt the deal, especially with everyone tweeting about the Harris' nazi tattoos. "That doesn't help, especially with Pop TV".

- The Harris Brothers are tight with the Jarretts dating back to the late 80s/early 90s. Don Harris in particular is friends with Jeff.

- Dave says he doesn't know when a sale is going to happen, but a sale to someone has to happen. The tapings this week will happen, they have to happen, because if they don't run TV tapings they risk voiding their TV deals, and so if the Harris Brothers want TNA, they have to ensure the TV tapings happen. Dave is confident the tapings will happen this week, and says the wrestlers have been told not to believe anything they read and that everything is fine.

- Dave crunched the numbers, and Impact's February 2016 numbers were 31% lower than Impact's February 2015 numbers, despite the fact that Pop is available in 23 million more homes than Destination America. Dave points out how Pop is a bad fit for TNA as Pop is geared more towards women and TNA historically does poorly with women.

- In the questions section at the end of the show, Dave mentions how TNA needs to get wrestling people who are not WWE people. Says John Gaburick only knows WWE wrestling, doesn't know any other wrestling.

from prowrestlingsheet.com

The multi-million dollar investment company who bought and sold Segway are in talks with TNA Wrestling to become their official partner … this according to multiple sources.

Our sources tell us one of the organizations discussing a possible partnership with TNA is Summit Strategic Investments, and the deal could be huge for the wrestling company.

SSI has a successful track record and is known for “transforming troubled assets.”

In 2013, the company acquired Segway after the owner of the company passed away and sold it 2 years later. According to USA Today, the buyers received $80 million from a group of investors to finance the purchase. The investment company also helped to resurrect Fisker Automotive in 2015 with the help of their partner, Wanxiang — a wealthy Chinese auto-parts company.

Here’s where things get interesting.

The CEO of SSI is named Roger Brown. His brother, Jason Brown, is the CEO of Aroluxe Media … the outsourced company TNA uses to help produce Impact Wrestling.

We’re told Aroluxe Media are simply the production arm of Aroluxe Marketing — the company initially pin-pointed as a potential investor — and our sources say neither are in talks to buy a stake in TNA.

However, former WCW wrestlers Ron Harris and Don Harris do indeed work for Aroluxe Media … and we’re told if the deal between SSI/TNA goes down, they’ll likely keep their current roles.

We made multiple attempts to find out how much stake in the company Summit Strategic Investments is looking to purchase, but so far haven’t had any luck getting the answer.

Stay tuned.

There are now reportedly three bidders in the running to buy TNA. Dave Meltzer reported on Live Audio Wrestling that he’s heard of two new bidders aside from Aroluxe, and one is “TV-based” and would run TNA in a way that could be compared to Turner and WCW. He didn’t mention the name of the company.

Meltzer noted that if this TV company gets TNA, they may want to pull Impact Wrestling from Pop TV in favor of airing it on their own channels. He says TNA’s international syndication deals in the UK and India would be the valuable assets to this bidder. One company that fits the criteria mentioned by Meltzer is Sinclair Broadcasting, where Aroluxe CEO David Johnson worked for 11 years. Sinclair Broadcasting is the parent company of Ring Of Honor.

In last week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer reported that Dixie Carter had already gone to TNA’s international partners Sony Six in India and Challenge TV in the UK to offer them 10 percent of the company for funding, but they were not interested.

Torch has a article up with a lot of already known stuff, but did mention something about Sinclair.
http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/04/26/report-tna-moving-tv-production-nashville-facility-execs-working-warehouse-role-aroluxe-trying-develop-next-segway-will-new-investment-keep-company-afloat/

Earlier this year, Sinclair Broadcasting was rumored to be interested in investing in TNA, especially after acquiring the Tennis Channel and lining up a potential re-branding for the network. ROH and TNA programming were tied at the hip on Destination America in 2015 and now on Fight Network in 2016.

However, at this stage, it seems unlikely that Sinclair has actual interest in investing in TNA’s operations, despite the connection to former employee Johnson and rumors of kicking the tires on a potential investment.