Print this Article
RSSDaily News - Los Angeles, California
By Julia M. Scott, Daily News, Los Angeles
Jun. 19--SIMI VALLEY -- Ronco, hawker of infomercial-worthy products including the Veg-o-Matic slicer and dicer and the all-in-one Pocket Fisherman, is due in bankruptcy court today.
The company owes $32.7 million, including $11.7 million to former owner Ron Popeil, according to bankruptcy papers filed last week at a U.S. District court in Woodland Hills. The company owes money to more than 1,000 creditors, such as the Food Network, QVC home shopping network and Court TV.
Ronco listed $13.9 million in assets and wants to emerge from restructuring proceedings in late July or mid-August, Chief Executive Officer John Reiland said.
Reiland declined to say how Ronco, which has about 100 employees, ended up in this situation.
Popeil, 72, started the company in Chatsworth in 1958. The salesman extraordinaire became a legend on late-night television, grabbing viewers' attention with the catch phrase, "But wait, there's more."
Ronco went bankrupt once before, in 1987, then came back to make millions on a food dehydrator, spray-on hair and a bagel cutter. In 1995, Popeil, who lives in Beverly Hills, peddled his autobiography, "The Salesman of the Century," which he co-wrote with Jefferson Grahamsold.
Popeil sold the company in 2005 for $55 million to Fi-Tek VII, which changed its name to Ronco Corp. In 2006, the company moved from Chatsworth to Simi Valley and signed a $6.5 million, 10-year lease for an 81,646-square-foot building.
Ronco stock, traded under the symbol RNCP, rose from $0.07 to $0.13 after the bankruptcy news. On Monday, it fell to $0.11.
-----
To see more of the Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailynews.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Daily News, Los Angeles
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
RNCP, SSP, L,
