UPDATE: (DEC 30): GOOD NEWS! According to Gamers-Haven.org, Red 5 employees will be paid on December 30th after the company missed last week's payroll deadline. However the same report indicates that "according to reliable source inside the company" several employees were let go last week and, as with layoffs at the end of November, did not receive severance packages.
We are still awaiting comment from Red 5 on these issues, and we have closed the thread and article related to the Facebook spying allegations until further investigation and corroboration can be completed. We are currently in discussions with Red 5 Studios, and await their response to these allegations. We apologize for jumping the gun in our report, and will do better in the future.
(Dec 28): After reaching out to representatives at Red 5, we were told they had no statement or comment to make at this time.
According to a Reddit post and an anonymous tipster, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios has failed to make its latest payroll deadline. According to information we've been sent, current CEO Jun Zhu's share of the company is worth approximately $45M (via 13D disclosure recently filed) but let employees know shortly after that the company would not be able to meet its payroll obligation.
Unnamed "insiders" claim to have received an email in response to inquiries stating:
Hi Team, I regret to inform you that Red5 currently does not have the funds necessary to meet our payroll scheduled for today Friday, December 25. Due to this, there will not be payroll paid this week. Red5 and The9, our parent company, is currently working to resolve this, during the holidays, as soon as possible. We are hopeful we'll be able to resolve this and will update the team immediately.
Stock prices closed out the week:
The9 Limited (NASDAQ:NCTY) opened at 3.55 on Friday. The9 Limited has a 52-week low of $0.90 and a 52-week high of $4.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.72. The firm’s market cap is $82.36 million.
Unsubstantiated sources indicate that the failure to pay employees may be an indication that remaining assets are being sold off and will "forfeit the company on Monday".
At this point, this is all the information available and is subject to confirmation by company sources within Red 5 or parent company The9. We have reached out to representatives and will update this post as we learn more.
