Some things that fall under 'intangible assets' are such things as goodwill, patents, copyrights, trademarks, franchises, licensing agreements or leaseholds.The value comes from the privilege, competitive advantages or rights granted to or held by the owner/s. Some intangibles assets have a specific value while others can't be specifically determined. It is complicated.
An example of writing down an intangible asset could be the loss of goodwill. Bankruptcy can result in the loss of a corporations good name. Suppose a restaurant and all equipment is appraised with a market value of $500,000. Add the name MacDonalds to it and the price could double because you are also buying the good name. Goodwill is an expense that has to be revalued from time to time and, without a doubt, Greektown's goodwill has little value attached at this time.
The loss of Greektowns good name due to bankruptcy (and as a profitable business) could have a severe detrimental effect on the market value and asking price.This means that they should have sold that losing proposition when they first had the chance and while it still had a good name. Not doing so has caused this loss in value. Right now it is the cart without a horse, a dried up cow with no milk, a car without an engine. Move to a new house and leave the old house empty while you wait for top dollar. In the meantime, the house begins to fall apart. The plumbing freezes, vandals cause damage and a factory moves in across the street but you still have to make those mortgage payments. There goes the price to rock bottom.....you get the idea.
This is most likely what the gaming commission was referring to when they said the current conditions surrounding Greektown was the fault of a board unable to make speedy and efficient decisions. Not having a working knowledge of business operations, market values and trends or even just plain common sense is why the tribe is stuck ditching Greektown for pennies on the dollar. Face it...they tried to make an alleged crooked cop lacking in ethics as the top dog in Greektown....like he would have actually had a clue what he was doing!
Tribal members need to think back at the circumstances surrounding the downfall and remember all the scandalous actions that took place as well as who took part. There is blame to be laid and it started with our elected officials. When the economy began its dive, they should have realized that casinos were not the place to keep sinking money but now they use the economy as the real cause of Greektowns financial problems. Geez, they must think we are stupid.
Most of all, we have to look at motive. Here is something to think about...a local Sault business was just 3 weeks from closing due to tremendous losses in profits. The owner trusted the business manager and bookkeeper to run the show. The bookkeeper was embezzling and the business manager looked the other way. Why?...because he wanted to buy the place. Why not wait until it was worthless before he made his offer. He was fired, the bookkeeper went to jail and the business boomed again. Employees were called back to work, all three shifts were back on the job within a couple of months and then they had to move to a place more than twice the size.
Hasn't there been a familiar name that has been trying for a big piece of Greektown for awhile now? Hasn't that person had a close business association with someone on our board for the same time frame? With so much going for Greektown, why wasn't it making comparable profits to the other two casinos in Detroit? Poor management or purposeful management?
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