Music Ally

More doubt has been cast on Global Gaming Factory X’s chances of completing its purchase of The Pirate Bay this week as planned – by its proposed technology partner Peerialism, which it’s also due to buy.

CEO Johan Ljungberg says that last week’s shareholders meeting “gave us no direct answer at all, but based on declarations by GGF before and after the meeting, and the reporting that has taken place in recent days, we conclude that GGF will not succeed in obtaining any financing.”

He also points out that GGF’s caim that it will use its own shares as collateral for the financing will run into trouble, because trading in them is currently suspended on the Swedish Aktietorget exchange. Meanwhile, Swedish media are reporting that Global Gaming Factory X boss Hans Pandeya has had his motorbike and car seized by bailiffs, as part of his personal tax debt. Not the best start to the week, it’s fair to say.

The planned acquisition of The Pirate Bay by Global Gaming Factory X continues to go from strange to stranger. Now the company is telling bloggers that it received a bid of $10 million from former Napster CEO John Fanning, which was rejected, but is still considering a follow-up offer of $2 million investment in the site.

What’s more, GGFX claims to have received an informal bid of $16 million for The Pirate Bay from an unnamed Russian company, which it’s also turned down. We’re puzzled as to why the company is revealing this information now, when its own acquisition of the infamous torrent site has yet to be completed.

There are also more legal clouds ahead for The Pirate Bay’s original co-founders. They’ve announced an appeal against a Dutch court’s ruling that they must block access to all users in the Netherlands, with fines to be levied if they don’t.

Meanwhile, Italian music industry body FIMI and anti-piracy organisation FPM have announced plans to file a $1.4 million lawsuit against The Pirate Bay. The suit was sparked by the Pirate Bay acquisition announcement, and the desire on the part of FIMI and FPM not to see the site’s founders profit.

After biz dev consultant Wayne Rosso abandoned ship, there’s been no shortage of speculation that Swedish firm Global Gaming Factory X’s acquisition of The Pirate Bay is scuppered.

GGFX CEO Hans Pandeya has hit back though, promising that the deal will be completed on 27 August, and saying that “A group of investors are prepared to inject 30 million [SEK] relating to the cash portion of the purchase price of The Pirate Bay at the date of acquisition”.

He also claims GGFX is in “final negotiations” with a major label, and suggests that the company may even rebrand itself as The Pirate Bay once the deal is done. Hmm. He could have more legal problems on his hands, though, following a Dutch court ruling.

(more…)

Actually, that’s not the best metaphor to use. Wayne Rosso has walked away from would-be Pirate Bay buyer Global Gaming Factory X of his own accord, rather than being forced out at cutlass-point.

He’s told CNET he has “strong doubts” that the acquisition will go through, and confirmed his departure to Music Ally.

That’s not a good sign, given that Rosso was apparently helping GGFX to negotiate with labels for its plans to take The Pirate Bay legal. Rosso told CNET that after talking to proposed financial backers of the deal, he decided to quit. He reiterated the reasons when contacted by us tonight.

“It became increasingly obvious in discussions with Mr. Pandeya that GGF did not have a clear and well thought out plan of execution,” Rosso told us. “My colleagues and I lost confidence and decided to withdraw from the project.”

(more…)