Xyience Files Bankruptcy

TheMouth

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Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

UFC sponsor files for bankruptcy

By JOHN G. EDWARDS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Las Vegas manufacturer and distributor of energy drink Xenergy, which sponsors the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has filed for bankruptcy protection amid claims of intimidation and death threats.

Xyience Inc., the energy drink company headquartered at 4572 Hacienda Ave., reported $42.3 million in liabilities and $5.3 million in assets. Xyience sells its energy drink through 230 convenience and grocery stores, mostly in the Southwest.

The voluntary bankruptcy petition, filed on Friday, follows an involuntary petition that was filed Jan. 3 by founder and former CEO Russell Pike and others. The involuntary petition remains pending.

The bankruptcy petitions for Xyience were filed under Chapter 11, which provides protection from creditors while the company reorganizes.

Despite the ominous circumstances, Xyience President Omer Sattar expressed optimism.

"We're excited about the opportunity (to reorganize the company), " he said. "Xyience has a great brand name and has a strong affiliation with the UFC."

The UFC holds mixed martial arts fights. According to bankruptcy papers, UFC is the largest mixed martial arts organization, and mixed martial arts are the second-most popular sporting event for men ages 18 to 34, following the NFL.

A representative for UFC President Dana White declined to make White available for comment and declined comment on behalf of the UFC.

Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, members of the family that founded Station Casinos, own UFC. They also are creditors of Xyience with $12.5 million in unsecured claims and $5.3 million in secured claims, according to the bankruptcy filing. Attempts to reach the Fertittas on Monday were unsuccessful.

Sattar said the company would have filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 had not it not enjoyed the continued support of the Fertittas. Sattar said Xyience continues as a key UFC sponsor. Xyience signed a $15 million sponsorship agreement with the UFC for 2007.

Sattar said the bankruptcy became necessary when the company was unable to raise $7.5 million more from shareholders.

"Those negotiations, however, were derailed by a campaign of intimidations and threats led by company founder and former CEO Mr. Pike, Terry Cardenas, Ronald Solomon and Rick Klingenberg," he said.

"Associates of Mr. Pike and Mr. Klingenberg made threats of physical violence against Xyience management and board members and, on at least one occasion, showed up uninvited at the home of one member of management," Sattar said in bankruptcy court filings.

"Mr. Klingenberg and his brother David Bergstrom stormed into the Xyience office, cornering (Chief Financial Officer) Michael Levy in an office and refusing to allow Mr. Levy to depart until their demands were met," according to Sattar's filing.

If their mother wasn't paid, Klingenberg and Bergstrom said "somebody was going to ... get killed," Sattar said.

They demanded $20,000 "or else they would return the next day with guys who had a 100 percent collection rate," according to Sattar's filing.

Attempts to reach Pike, Bergstrom and Klingenberg for comment Monday failed.

Xyience was founded in 2004. Sales grew to $20.4 million in 2006, from $109,000 in its first year.

Sattar's filing says the company had difficulty raising money to pay for expansion.

When Pike resigned and tried to sell Xyience stock in California, the state's Department of Corporations issued a desist and refrain order against Xyience, according to court papers.

Sattar said the company has obtained postbankruptcy financing enabling it to pay for a backlog of drinks being kept by the drink maker, Cott Corp. The financing will enable Xyience to avoid losing shelf space to competitors, which would be difficult to regain, he said.

Sattar said Xyience encountered financial difficulties because it spent large sums of money on advertising and promotion but couldn't get the drink distributed in many stores. He hopes to revitalize the company by expanding its distribution to other convenience and grocery stores and by giving away samples at sporting events in hopes of developing new customers.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at [email protected] or (702) 383-0420.
 
Aggravated

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That sucks. Never used their prods, but still, they are a big name.
 
dsade

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Sucks? Look at how the company founder behaves.

Have to wait and see if the new owners are any better.
 
TheMouth

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SHow me something comparible for 60 bucks for the big tub.
 
jjohn

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There goes another one. I won't even say how I feel about their products..
 
MuscleGuyinNY

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I've heard nothing but poor reviews in regards to Xyience products.
 
dannyboy9

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This isn't very surprising at all. It's a shame, of course, but financial instabilities are something many companies have faced, currently face and many more will encounter them in the future. This is a precise example of a "fly-by-night" company. I've never used their products, never heard anything (positive or negative) regarding them. This happens a lot more than we hear about.
 
The_Reverend

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Looks like they paid Chuck too much money. :)
 

AE14

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I have not heard anything positive, they are on the level of fizogen
 
TheMouth

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I already have Xtend. I'll do some reading on Supercarb now.
 
CROWLER

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J reported $42.3 million in liabilities
We owe $10 to UPS for shipping out a box for us yesterday but I think we can cover the charges ;)


CROWLER
 

Goat

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That sucks. Never used their prods, but still, they are a big name.
Screw them, good riddance. Another Supplement marketing machine down the drain.

Can't sell the hype forever!

Although post-bankruptcy if they just rename everything Xtreme Xyience they should be fine. Hopefully we will see some new Anabolic Potentiators coming from their cutting edge research lab.:ntome:
 
terminator

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Looks like they paid Chuck too much money. :)
Lol, actually they weren't paying Chuck and all the rest of the fighters for the last year. That's why all the big names dropped off the sponsorship list.
 
Cool

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So where are the 90% off Xyience products? :D
 
kabuki

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We owe $10 to UPS for shipping out a box for us yesterday but I think we can cover the charges ;)


CROWLER
yeah i saw that 42mil in liabilites and 5mil in assets. damn crazy. I've never been in a bus like that.
 
VolcomX311

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I never liked Xyience, I'm with Rodja, their prices were GNC'esque.
 
Gtarzan81

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I got a fax today at work for a place that is selling a large bit of Xyience inventory for under $10 a bottle. PM if you want the link.
 

Behemoth1

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yeah their nox cg3 topped any muscletech product as far as price goes, and god knows thats damn near impossible
 
Gtarzan81

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So where are the 90% off Xyience products? :D
I found it. PM me. I'll order some to try it out. The NOX CG3 it like $10, and their other stuff is like $7.
 
ShakesAllDay

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IMO, they realized that their target market (15-22 y.o.) didn't have as much disposable income as they had hoped.

Oh well, one less scumbag to browse over.
 

propho

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I bought a bunch of Xyience stuff dirt cheap off eBay.. Wasn't too impressed with the products.. capped dirt.
 
VolcomX311

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IMO, they realized that their target market (15-22 y.o.) didn't have as much disposable income as they had hoped.

Oh well, one less scumbag to browse over.
You have a great point there, plus I think they're losing the young vote to the Muscletech party. Everyone I know at my gym who is 20 or under is on or planning to be on something Muscletech, I never hear about Xyience. Matter of fact, the only time I ever do hear the name Xyience is during UFC fights, thats it.
 
terminator

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My friend, who has not neen with Xyience for over a year, designed the Xenergy line of energy drinks. To be quite honest he gave me a bunch of all the products and I ended up giving away a few tubs of NO-X-CG to my brother because the stuff upset my stomache.

I still have a lot of the products that I never used. I only used their bars and Xenergy drinks.

I used to work right next to Xyience Corporate here in Vegas and I have too many interesting stories about some of the former employees and their questionable business dealings.
 
ShakesAllDay

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I know there are some corny company/product names out there, but I think Xyience tried WAY too hard to be WAY too cool. Putting "X" in titles makes it BAD A5S!

Xyience marketing = Xfail
 
SFRANGER

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I have only one good thing to say about Xyience :

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im3oNntuzlc"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]
 

rhino61466

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I for one am glad they are bankrupt because now I can pick up noxcg3 for really cheap.
 
kbtoy31

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Hahaha, they sucked from the day the sold their first Xcrap, to a dumb Xkid!.
Hey I was one of those dumb kids I guess I fell into the hype and all. Ya know whats messed up I'm in the store thinking to myself this tuff must be good if it costs $90(basically u get what u pay for), boy was I wrong it was the 1st and last time I ever used one of their products. Can't remember the name but it was a test booster. Yea it sucked.
 
kbtoy31

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Thats first time I ever saw that Ad and even tho' their products do suck she is fine as hell
 
Nightwanderer

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I'm currently using NOX-CG3 since you can find the 750 gram tubs for 35 bucks, smells like foot though, gonna switch off to ragnarok
when I get some money, keep hearing great things about it.
 
KingMeso

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I tried one of their sugar-free energy drinks once. It was Xyience Clear or something like that. Like 5 cals or something. Pretty good taste for an energy drink.
 
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