With a civil judgment and two business bankruptcies in the past couple of years, 47-year-old CNET Networks Inc. co-founder Halsey Minor is setting himself up for another fresh start. Minor filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy on May 24.
In court documents Minor estimated his assets at between $10 million and $50 million. His debts total between $50 million and $100 million. Creditors include large financial institutions, the Internal Revenue Service and Sotheby’s Inc. He also owes $10.5 million in taxes to his home state. Neither Minor nor his businesses have been based in Maryland.
With a partner and some expert help, Minor founded CNET in 1993. He guided the company through a period of tremendous growth. In 2008, just before the world financial crisis, Minor sold his interest in CNET for $1.7 billion and turned his attention to other projects.
It may have been timing more than anything else that led to the demise of his next two major projects. His plans to build a hotel chain ended with Minor Family Hotels LLC’s 2010 bankruptcy. His plans to raise racehorses on an estate near Colonial Williamsburg ended in 2011 with another bankruptcy filing. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is listed as a creditor in his personal bankruptcy filing.
In 2010, too, Minor lost a court fight with Sotheby’s. The auction house said he had failed to pay for three artworks, and the court agreed. Minor was ordered to pay Sotheby’s $6.6 million.
In a statement to the press, Minor adopted a “win some, lose some” attitude. He said that he liked working outside of his comfort zone and gave the impression that the fresh star offered by Chapter 7 bankruptcy would allow him to make headway on new projects, which may or may not be related to technology.
Source: Bloomberg, “CNET Founder Minor Files for Bankruptcy After Selling Art,” Dawn McCarty, May 30, 2013