Axium's Ugly Ripples

Had a call from a long-time Axium employee today, who gave me some of the ugly details of the collapse of the company on Monday.

Apparently, nobody except Axium's golden circle (the gents at the top) knew that the plug was about to be pulled. The ex-Axiumite said:

"Mid-level execs had no idea the company was folding until an e-mail went out Monday afternoon. It was news to them. The company was as busy as it had ever been, and was turning a profit. It was other parts of the business, like Ensemble Chimes Global out in the mid-west, that were the problem ... The L.A. Times had most of the facts right."

The Times covered this story yesterday (along with other papers), and the reality -- macro and micro -- isn't pretty:

Axium's largest creditor, Golden Tree Asset Management, a New York investment firm, seized $22 million from company accounts that had secured a $140-million loan on which Axium defaulted ...

Fallout from the company's abrupt closing stung entertainment industry workers suddenly holding worthless paychecks, as well as about 400 Axium employees who were fired ...

Arci Silva-Thomas was working for Axium in Los Angeles when she moved to Troy, Mich., in March for a job with ECG's finance department.

The single mother of three said she was barely making ends meet on her $60,000 salary even before she was fired Monday. Now she's "stranded" in Michigan with no job and little hope for the future ...

The guy I talked to (who's found other work) was calling to see if we knew of any job openings out there:

"I've got a lot of friends who are hurting, and they can't use COBRA to pay for medical benefits. One friend has cancer and has just lost his benefits. Since the company's bankrupt there is no COBRA. I'm just trying to help them find work ..."

I told him I wished I knew of something, but I didn't. "There's a bunch of animation employees out there looking for work, and I don't have a lot I can do for many of them."