Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. was an American media company based in

Cos Cob, Connecticut Cos Cob is a neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the Connecticut shoreline in southern Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County. It had a population of 6,873 at t ...

. Established in 2016, it was a subsidiary of the publisher

Chicken Soup for the Soul Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC is an American self-help and consumer goods company based in Cos Cob, Connecticut. It is known for the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' book series. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the series, consisted ...

History

In 2008, the founders of

Jack Canfield Jack Canfield (born August 19, 1944) is an American author and motivational speaker. He is the co-author of the '' Chicken Soup for the Soul'' series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print in over 40 languages. In 2005 ...

and Mark Victor Hansen, sold the company to a group led by William J. Rouhana and Robert D. Jacobs. In 2013, the company announced plans to produce a television series and a film with

Alcon Entertainment Alcon Entertainment, LLC is an American indie film and television production company, founded in 1997 by film producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Since its establishment, Alcon Entertainment has developed and financed films that ar ...

. Chicken Soup for the Soul produced television programming with other partners, including

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. In 2016, Chicken Soup for the Soul acquired a majority stake in the website A Plus. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment went public in 2017. In November 2017, it acquired

Screen Media Screen Media Ventures, LLC was an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001 and owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment since 2017 alongside its subsidiary Popcornflix. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition a ...

Ventures, LLC, an independent television and film distribution company, which included

Popcornflix Popcornflix LLC was a website and over-the-top (OTT) service offering free ad-supported streaming video of feature-length movies and webisodes owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. In July 2024, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainm ...

, an ad-based online video service. On March 28, 2019,

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

announced that it would sell a majority stake of

Sony Crackle Crackle was an American-based video streaming service. It was founded in 2004 as Grouper, before the service was purchased by Sony Pictures in 2006 and renamed ''Crackle''. In 2018, the name was changed to Sony Crackle. Sony sold a majority st ...

to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, after which the service would revert to the "Crackle" name. On November 5, 2019, it was announced that the Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment division would purchase foreign sales company Foresight Unlimited for the new Screen Media division. On December 15, 2020, Sony traded its remaining shares in Crackle for a yet to be disclosed preferential stake in Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, giving them full control of the ad-supported streaming service. As of 2020, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series included more than 250 titles. In April 2021, Chicken Soup for the Soul acquired the film and television catalogue of

Sonar Entertainment Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

. In return, Sonar will hold a 5 percent stake in a new AVOD network featuring its library. Through the acquisition, Chicken Soup now currently owns the North American rights to a majority of the

Laurel & Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the ...

films and shorts, and most of the

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...

library, as well as the holdings of the former RHI/Hallmark/Cabin Fever/Sonar outputs, and a majority of the

Hal Roach Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, ...

library, all via their

Halcyon Studios Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

division. On March 2, 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced its acquisition of specialty film distributor,

1091 Pictures 1091 Pictures was an American production company based in New York City and Los Angeles. The company was founded as the film and television division subsidiary of The Orchard in 2015. The company is best known for the Oscar-nominated films ''Li ...

, for $15.55 million, in a mix of cash ($8 million) and stock (newly issued Series A preferred stock and Class A common stock). The deal included an estimated 4,000 movies and TV series from the 1091 catalog, as well as its portfolio of free, ad-supported networks and channels. On May 11, 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced its intention to acquire

Redbox Redbox Automated Retail, LLC was an American video rental and streaming media company, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois west of Chicago. Redbox specialized in automated DVD rental kiosks, and operated transactional and ad-supported streamin ...

for $357 million ($36 million in stock and $321 million in assumed debt). The acquisition closed on August 11, 2022.

Bankruptcy and liquidation

On April 1, 2024, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, informing that the company's stock would be delisted from the Nasdaq after it had 180 days to return to compliance. On April 23, 2024, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced a $636.6 million loss in 2023, and warned that without any options to generate additional financing, the company may be forced to liquidate or pause operations, and seek a potential

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection filing. In June 2024, chairman and CEO Bill Rouhana removed the company's board of directors. On June 29, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after cutting benefits in May, missing a week of paying its employees, and failing to secure financing. On July 1, 2024, former federal prosecutor Bart Schwartz replaced Rouhana as CEO, and a new board of directors was installed. On July 5, the company was able to secure funding to restore payroll and benefits. On July 10, 2024, a bankruptcy judge ordered Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's Chapter 11 bankruptcy to be converted into a

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

liquidation after accusing Rouhana of misusing the business and failing to pay employees or support healthcare. With the Chapter 7 conversion, the company's assets would be liquidated, resulting in the cessation of its subsidiaries, including Crackle,

and

. In addition, over 1,000 employees were laid off and over 26,000 Redbox kiosks were shut down permanently. CSSE's liquidation has not been completed as of April 2025, and Crackle's website and app are the only part of the company still currently operating. On April 7, A bankruptcy auction was set for April 23.

References

External links

{{Authority control, state=expanded Chicken Soup for the Soul 2016 establishments in Connecticut 2017 initial public offerings 2024 disestablishments in Connecticut American companies established in 1993 American companies disestablished in 2024 Book publishing companies based in Connecticut Mass media companies based in Greenwich, Connecticut Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2024 Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States Mass media companies established in 2016 Mass media companies disestablished in 2024