Liggett Stashower Advertising Agency (Ohio) Closes

The media can keep hypingthe supposed recovery all it wants, but its pretty telling when a large advertising firm suddenly declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy and abruptly shuts down. Here is Cleveland.com with the details:

Advertising agency Liggett Stashower Inc. has closed its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

In a letter addressed to friends and associates on Liggett Stashower letterhead, President and Managing Partner David Moore on Monday confirmed what many in the advertising and marketing community had suspected might happen -- that the 24-year-old company had shut down.

"I am saddened to share with you the news that despite our best efforts, Liggett Stashower has closed, effective February 3, 2012," he wrote in a letter obtained by The Plain Dealer.

"We had hoped to reorganize and rebuild the agency, but that unfortunately did not come to pass. . . Liggett has determined that it is in the best interest of its creditors and all interested parties to wind its business affairs down through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy."
Moore would not comment about the letter.

The bankruptcy papers filed Friday to sell off the company's assets said Liggett had "entered a period of extreme financial distress and lack of financial liquidity." The company had assets of $1.42 million and debts of $2.70 million.

Liggett Stashower, once the second-largest advertising agency in Cleveland, cut most of its employees on Jan. 18, saying it needed to adjust its expenses to match its declining revenues.

Well, it looks like the companies are now very much matching its revenues: zero.