The Company Behind the Tupac Hologram Is Now Bankrupt...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012
by  paul

Looks like 'projected' revenues failed to keep the 'lights on' at Digital Domain Media Group, the company responsible for the splashy Tupac hologram at Coachella this summer.  According to Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings surfacing last night, Digital Domain was simply 'running out of cash' despite going public roughly 10 months ago.           

As of June 30th, total assets at Digital Domain were about $204 million, with liabilities topping $215 million.  According to initial details, the core of Digital Domain is being fire-sold to private investment group Searchlight Capital Partners LP for $15 million, with no guarantees on what happens next.  The company has indicated that day-to-day operations will not be affected, and debtors have agreed to a $20 million fund to power any restructuring.  Meanwhile, massive layoffs and shelved construction plans are happening immediately.

It all seemed like a fun company until recently.  Digital Domain was created by James Cameron, and generated special effects for dozens of advertisers and Hollywood films (including Cameron's own, Titanic).  The picture included Academy Awards and lush government grants, though Wall Street was extremely cool to Digital Domain: shares quickly dropped below expected ranges, and plunged into the sub-$10 single digits.  The Tupac splash created a temporary spike that failed to sustain, much less keep the company afloat.

This is also bad news for Elvis fans (or, good news, depending on the perspective).  Shortly after the Tupac frenzy, Digital Domain sealed agreements to create an Elvis-inspired hologram, and shuttle a King-in-lights to numerous stages.  That expansion now seems highly unlikely.

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NY police to investigate Tupac robbery confession (Reuters)

By Bernd Debusmann Jr. Bernd Debusmann Jr. – 1 hr 21 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York police are investigating an online posting from a man who claims to have shot the late rapper Tupac Shakur during a robbery attempt in 1994, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

Convicted murderer Dexter Isaac claims to have been paid $2,500 by music manager James Rosemond to rob Shakur outside a Manhattan recording studio in November 1994, in which Shakur was shot five times.

Shakur survived the shooting but was later murdered in an unsolved 1996 shooting in Las Vegas.

Isaac is currently serving a life sentence in Brooklyn, New York, after having been convicted for charges including murder, fraud and robbery.

"Detectives plan to talk to him and hear what he has to say," police spokesman Paul Browne said Thursday.

Rosemond, a well-known manager of several high-profile artists, is currently a fugitive from federal authorities who allege he was involved in a large-scale cocaine trafficking enterprise.

Rosemond's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told Reuters Isaac was making up the story to help police build a case against Rosemond.

"This is not him being a good soldier or clearing his conscience. It's a desperate 17-year-old attempt to reduce his sentence," he said.

As proof, Isaac said he is still in possession of a chain necklace that he took from Shakur during the robbery.

He also claims in the posting to have information about the murders of Shakur in 1996 and another rapper, Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace in 1997, but did not elaborate.

The claim from Isaac was first posted on music website AllHipHop.com.

In the confession, Isaac said he is speaking out because Rosemond had accused him of being a government informant.

"Now I would like to clear up a few things, because the statute of limitations is over, and no one can be charged, and I'm just plain tired of listening to your lies."

(Reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr., editing by Christine Kearney)

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NY police to investigate Tupac robbery confession

Tupac Shakur in a 1994 photo.

Credit: Reuters/File

By Bernd Debusmann Jr.

NEW YORK | Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:46pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police are investigating an online posting from a man who claims to have shot the late rapper Tupac Shakur during a robbery attempt in 1994, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

Convicted murderer Dexter Isaac claims to have been paid $2,500 by music manager James Rosemond to rob Shakur outside a Manhattan recording studio in November 1994, in which Shakur was shot five times.

Shakur survived the shooting but was later murdered in an unsolved 1996 shooting in Las Vegas.

Isaac is currently serving a life sentence in Brooklyn, New York, after having been convicted for charges including murder, fraud and robbery.

"Detectives plan to talk to him and hear what he has to say," police spokesman Paul Browne said Thursday.

Rosemond, a well-known manager of several high-profile artists, is currently a fugitive from federal authorities who allege he was involved in a large-scale cocaine trafficking enterprise.

Rosemond's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told Reuters Isaac was making up the story to help police build a case against Rosemond.

"This is not him being a good soldier or clearing his conscience. It's a desperate 17-year-old attempt to reduce his sentence," he said.

As proof, Isaac said he is still in possession of a chain necklace that he took from Shakur during the robbery.

He also claims in the posting to have information about the murders of Shakur in 1996 and another rapper, Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace in 1997, but did not elaborate.

The claim from Isaac was first posted on music website AllHipHop.com.

In the confession, Isaac said he is speaking out because Rosemond had accused him of being a government informant.

"Now I would like to clear up a few things, because the statute of limitations is over, and no one can be charged, and I'm just plain tired of listening to your lies."

(Reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr., editing by Christine Kearney)

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NYPD probing online post on Tupac shooting in '94 (AP)

NEW YORK – New York City police are investigating an online posting from a convicted felon who claims to have shot and robbed Tupac Shakur in 1994, two years before the rapper was slain.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said Wednesday that if police determine the post is legitimate they will seek to interview the prisoner.

The claim, attributed to Dexter Isaac, was posted on the website AllHipHop.com. In a letter that the site said came from a Brooklyn prison, Isaac said he was paid $2,500 by another hip-hop mogul to rob Shakur outside a studio in Manhattan in 1994.

Shakur suffered gunshot wounds but eventually recovered. He was killed in 1996 in an unsolved slaying.

Much of the post is laced with bitterness directed at the person the writer says hired him to carry out the crime. The writer says that person has wrongly accused him of being a government informant.

"Now I would like to clear up a few things, because the statute of limitations is over, and no one can be charged, and I'm just plain tired of listening to your lies," Isaac wrote, adding that the mogul also allowed him to keep some of the jewelry he stole from Shakur.

"I still have as proof the chain we took in the robbery," he writes.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, a person named Dexter Isaac is serving life in prison and is housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

An employee there said inmates were not allowed to receive calls and were allowed only approved in-person visits. In order to be approved, a person must first write to the inmate, and receive a visitor form.

It wasn't clear whether Isaac still had a lawyer, and a call to the website wasn't returned.

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