Westlife Singer Bankrupt due to Property

nollag2006

Rock star loses a fortune?

How is this news?

A new low, even for the most bearish of bears

paddyrg

Plus people tend to overestimate how rich pop artists are - all the stuff you hear like 'xyz signs a £3M deal' doesn't mean xyz get £3M - far from it. Music financing is complicated, but you'd be surprised how little will shake out at the end of that deal once everyone along the way has been paid!

princeofpounds

Agree on the music financing. In simple terms, the labels always get paid back first on the money they put in, plus a profit. Only then does the artist get more than a basic 'wage'.

Initially they would likely not have earned much at all, but as time goes by they would have had much more bargaining power vs the label.

worldtraveller

PasturesNew wrote: »

I noticed he filed in Surrey - then clicked a link to another Irish couple filing for an £800m portfolio - and in there it says:

And it's not just the Irish - the EU's bankrupts come here to do it to get off light.

Yup, Kingston-upon-[STRIKE]Liffey[/STRIKE]Thames with automatic discharge on the 11th June, 2013.

Report Requested For: SHANE FILAN

Report for Bankruptcy Case

Individual Details

Surname FILAN
Forename(s) SHANE
Title Mr
Gender Male
Occupation
Date of Birth 05 July 1979
Last Known Address (Sorry - this Address has been withheld)
Insolvency Case Details

Case Name SHANE FILAN
Court Kingston-upon-Thames County Court
Type Bankruptcy
Number 0000182
Case Year 2012
Order Date11 June 2012
Status Currently Bankrupt : Automatic Discharge will be 11 June 2013
See FootNoteCase Description (Sorry - this Description has been withheld)

Insolvency Service Contact Details
Insolvency Service Office Croydon A
Contact Enquiry Desk
Address 2nd Floor Sunley House
Bedford Park
Croydon
United Kingdom
Post Code CR9 1TX - Click Post Code for Map of Office
(The Insolvency Service is not responsible for the content of external sites.)
Telephone 020 8681 5166

Individual Insolvency Register

RUN_RABBIT_RUN

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It was a limited company. So I'm not sure whether he has had to go personally bankrupt or whether his creditors will have taken the entire hit.

no, the info above shows that he's personally filed for bankruptcy so clearly there's more to it than just the company going bust, he must have had personal liabilities as well.

quite astonishing really and a shame that we'll probably never know the full story - until of course he writes a book about it :money:

MacMickster

I remembered reading that Niall Quinn ran into similar difficulties, and that this was his main reason for selling his shares in Sunderland.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/its-not-the-pot-of-gold-i-hoped-it-would-be-3067110.html

Niall Quinn is co-owner of a ghost apartment complex in Co Carlow. The towering block of flats overlooking the River Barrow in Bagenalstown has been empty and unfinished for a number of years after funding for its completion dried up.
Quinn's company, Manorfield Taverns -- in which he has a 50pc stake -- started the landmark building project at the peak of the boom.
But it was delayed by planning logjams and the property crash. According to a local property expert, two-bed flats in the complex might have fetched €200,000 in the good times five years ago. Now they would be worth €45,000 to €50,000, if they were finished.
Quinn says he hopes the 15 one- and two-bed apartments will now be turned into homes for the elderly.
"We are in discussions about this with the county council, and I would be really happy if that takes place."
He says: "It was not the pot of gold that I hoped it would be, and it has cost me a lot of money, but I remain committed to the project, and we are capable of finishing it."
Niall Quinn's company also owns a pub next to the flats. It was closed for more than six years, but reopened two years ago.
Most recent figures for the pub and apartment development's holding company, Manorfield Taverns, show an annual loss of €541,918.
Its net liabilities were €3,385,724, according to the latest company accounts for the year up to end of January 2010 before the pub reopened. Cosmo Flood, a developer from Mount Merrion in Dublin, is listed as the other shareholder.

I suspect that the same fate may befall a number of Irish "names" in coming months.

claire16c

I heard on the radio that he had to sell his 300k car. But hes also due to make £4million from the tour hes on now.

So if thats true I wouldnt feel too sorry for him.

RUN_RABBIT_RUN

i don't feel sorry for him, but i am mildly intrigued to find out how someone in his position with many years of success behind him could find himself in this predicament.

i get the impression that there's more to it than what we're seeing reported.

ILW

claire16c wrote: »

I heard on the radio that he had to sell his 300k car. But hes also due to make £4million from the tour hes on now.

So if thats true I wouldnt feel too sorry for him.

If he earns that money whilst bankrupt, doesn't it go to the official receiver to be passed on to creditors?

the_flying_pig

RUN_RABBIT_RUN wrote: »

i don't feel sorry for him, but i am mildly intrigued to find out how someone in his position with many years of success behind him could find himself in this predicament...

well, westlife would have made him rich, clearly. as others have pointed out his first couple of records & tours would have been on fairly stingy terms, befitting the fact that thousands of other nice-looking boys who coudl sing a bit could have done the same job just as well as him. but they did 10 albums, all of which were #1 sellers [or 2/3 in a couple of cases] in the UK, and plenty of touring. Towards the end of that period he'd have been coining it in.

but clearly "rich" wasn't enough for shane. he wanted to be 'seriously rich'. his debts are £18m. clearly bought shedloads of pwoperdee.