Distributor ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT Sold to Equity Groups

MUSIC NEWS- Florida based DVD/CD distributor, Alliance Entertainment, has been sold by Source Interlink to two equity firms, Platinum Equity and The Gores Group. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Alliance has said they do not expect to lay off any employees as a result of the sale, reported Michael Rigby, group vice president of business development for AE.  "With Platinum and Gores acquiring us, we're set to grow," he said. "Our mode is very much on the acquisition trail."

The company will be operated by Project Panther Holding Corp., a joint venture between Platinum Equity and The Gores Group, which are both based in Los Angeles, CA and will contiune to use the Alliance Entertainment name.

Alliance Entertainment, which is based in Coral Springs, FL, is one the largest wholesale distributors of CD, DVD and videogame titles in the USA and provides services to retailers like Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, Target.com and BestBuy.com, among its 2,900 unique customers and ships to 14,500 locations throughout the United States, according to a news release from the company. 

Like all entertainment content distributors they have been negatively impacted in recent years by the decline in CD and DVD sales. More recently they have been developing a music/video digital download system to provide "back office" services to retailers.  Under the arrangement, Alliance provides music / video digital download for internet retailers with the consumer remaining on the retailer's site.

In 2009 AE closed their Florida warehouse and currently operate a 400,000-square-foot warehouse in Shepherdsville, FL KY that has a reported physical inventory of 400,000 CD, DVD, Blu Ray and videogame titles.

 

Comments

[David]

We currently operate a 400,000-square-foot warehouse in Shepherdsville, *KY* ... not FL.
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Fr MNN;
Dave- noted, thanks for catching the typo!

[J.R.]

The first thing they need to do it get rid of their outdated managment staff. As good as they were in the "old days" at distributing hardgoods, that's how bad they are in the 21st Century entertainment business. Tuchman actually stated that there is "no money to be made in downloads." Donohue is riding a donkey in a world of electric cars. This is a company a history of gobbling up local and regional distributors and companies, then filing bankruptcy so that they don't have to pay for them. Did it a couple of times in the last ten/twelve years. AENT and Source Interlink are prime examples of what has gone wrong in corporate America. Fire Tuchman. Retire Donohue, and bring in some new blood that knows what the "buying public" will actually lay down their dollars for.