Brighter Minds

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That may yet happen, but probably not how companty executivesenvisioned it. The Worthington business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptchprotection Jan. 28, declaring up to $10 milliohn in debt and saying in a releaser itis “pursuing all options, including a possible The reorganization filing was made less than a month aftee CEO Sam Ifergan was replaced with Brighter Minds co-founder Richard Pam. Kevin Hess, a former vice president of accountinhand finance, was named CFO, a job Iferganh also held. Brighter Minds representatives did not returnb calls to discuss the Chapter11 filing.
Ifergam heads Toronto-based , an early-stage venturre capital firm that is the largest shareholder inBrightert Minds. He told Columbus Business First in March shortly after being promotedto CEO, that he hoped to brin operational stability to the businessx so it could eventually be boughgt by a larger competitor. Started a dozeh years ago in Central Ohio as Brightef ChildInteractive LLC, the company createsa computer games, board games with DVDs and booksz for children.
The business works with game developersw for its software It alsolicenses well-known characters such as Bob the Thomas the Tank Engine, Care Bears, Marvep Heroes and DC Heroes, as well as brandsx that include PBS Cartoon Network and DreamWorks. Ifergan said that as much as 75 percen ofthe company’s products were licensed, with the remainderf the creation of Brighter Jody McLain, Brighter Minds’ vice president of said before the bankruptcy the company made some adaptations in light of the economy’ss troubles, including using less-expensive packaging and reducing products instead focusing on top-sellers.
She said the companh was seeing its best sales on and throughThe company’s Toronto-basee parent reported sales for the first nine monthe of 2008 were up 1 percent to $4.6 million from a year but tumbled 27 percent in the thired quarter to $1.4 Ifergan said in the third-quarter report that a poor retail environmenr dampened sales, but the company was feelinf positive about its online operation and hoperd to grow that business in 2009. Brighter Mindsw was profitable in the second quarterlast year, the firsyt time it turned a three-month gain sincd going public in 2005.
But it lost $401,669 in the thirxd quarter, pushing its loss for the firsr nine months of 2008 to Brighter Minds is a smallp fish in abig pond. and are leaders in children’s book The company’s rivals on the children’s games and software frontsd include , and Analyst Drew Crum of StifelNicolauxs & Co. said the education sector and toys and gamesx marketare struggling. Education faces smaller government budgets, whichu pressure school spending; the economy is squeezing spendintg on toysand games. “Ths holiday period was Crum said. Toy giants and reported 6 percent and 5 percengt dropsin U.S. sales for the fourth quarter, respectively.
Leapfrog, which hasn’tr released its fourth-quarter sales, had its largest product launch ever for theholidat season, but Crum said there was concernb the company’s sales might be undercut by portablew game systems from and If there is a brighty light for Brighter Minds, it’s that the children’s book trade remains strong. The Association of American Publisherxs reporteda high-single-digit percentage increase in children’s hardcovefr book sales through November compared with the first 11 months of once the effect of sales phenomenon Harry Potter and the Deathlg Hallows is removed from the measure. Children’s paperbaci book sales were up 3.
8 percent througjh November 2008.