(Bloomberg) – Publisher Clearing Houses Limited (LLC) is known for distributing oversized checks at the doorstep of its surprise contestants and has filed for bankruptcy.
It says in a Chapter 11 document in Manhattan that the 72-year-old company owes $10 billion. PCH listed $1 million to $10 million in assets in the bankruptcy petition.
PCH facilitated its raffle through advertising, flooding daytime TV in the late 1980s and 1990s. The company said it has won over $500 million in prizes over the past few decades and continues to offer sweepstakes through social media and mobile apps.
According to court documents, the company’s revenue has shrunk as online consumers demand faster delivery and free delivery, which PCH cannot meet. Revenue fell from nearly $879 million in 2018 to $181 million last year, court documents show.
The company said in court filings that the company plans to restore its fate by providing ads to customers visiting its website, which attracted 36 million visitors last year.
In a bankruptcy, the company will abandon its magazine subscription and direct mail sales business, the founder began in 1953 and focused on becoming “only digital advertising.”
“It is important that our world-renowned raffle draw will continue to be the cornerstone of our experience,” Goldberg said.
The company said in court filings that it will use time in Chapter 11 to restructure its operations and increase the online presence of PCH. It will also consider opportunities to sell its assets, it said.
PCH expanded to the network in the late 1990s by acquiring several digital companies while maintaining its mail order marketing business. William Henrich, co-chief restructuring officer at PCH, said in court filings that the company’s e-commerce marketing program, along with advertising, became a major revenue stream.
Henrihee said the company started causing losses from 2022 as PCH revenue declined. Meanwhile, TV advertising has become more expensive and more effective in the case of streaming, “making it more difficult to attract early mass audiences.”
The company’s owners include various trusts related to founders Harold and Luesther Mertz and their daughter Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, according to court records.
The case was in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Publisher Liquidation Housing LLC, No. 25-10694.
(Using the update of the company statement in paragraph 4.)
More stories like this are available Bloomberg.com
