Middleton's company

[Viviennemary]

There is an article on this in the Daily Mail website.,Apparently the Middletons party company has gone bust with debts of £2.6 m. And lots of creditors are owed money. Somebody has put posters up round their village.

Now so don't really approve of this but it is a bit galling to think of those multi millionaires not paying their debts to smaller businesses that could lose their livliehoods.

From what’s been said they sold the company and the new owner closed it with those debts. It’s not their responsibility.

I think William should pay off their debts.

He's a multi millionaire and would be helping his future subjects.

Kate - if you're reading this, let William know my opinion 😉

Why William? If they're married then isn't his money hers now also? Kate should pay.

It isn't William and Kate's responsibility - they are not and have never been the owners of the business.

The administrators will discharge the legal responsibilities.

If it's anyone's moral responsibility, it's Kate's parents'. They own a house worth millions which they could sell if they wanted to repay some of the debts.

Ha! His money is mine doesn't work with Royals.

This is old news regurgitated for clicks by the Mail.

The Middleton's sold the business months ago. Any monies owed to creditors is the responsibility of the new owners.

But let's not let actual facts get the way of giving W&K a good kicking 🙄

I think PP is right ; they sold the company and the new owner closed it .,

It’s just like Jamie Oliver.
The company goes bust leaving debts of millions and suppliers struggling.
cue lots of hand-wringing from Jamie.
Then he sets up another company…

It happens a lot…

@Viviennemary if you’re going to start a thread about a crap piece of writing from the Daily Mail then please actually read the whole thing and you will note that they sold the business and it was the new owners who folded it some months later so that was nothing to do with them. But hey, obviously they should be paying the new owners debts or W&K should 🤷‍♀️

Yeah but wasn't that house bought for them by their son in law so that he and the grandchildren would be able to visit (from a security and privacy pov). Very poor form of them to sell it even if it is theirs.

Businesses go bust. It's shit but I don't believe there's any insinuation they've done anything wrong or illegal. I imagine their days were always numbered with cheaper stuff on Amazon etc and then the pandemic won't have exactly been good for any businesses related to parties.

The Mail article indicates it had already gone into administration when the business was sold, with debts at the time being owed by the Middletons. But they'll have followed the legal process to absolve themselves of responsibility for those debts - I would still question their moral responsibility.

I agree, though, it is nothing to do with Kate or William.

That's the whole point of setting up a limited company. Fair enough if you don't think that's morally acceptable but then you take issue with just about every business in the country, not just the Middletons.

(Not necessarily a stance I'd disagree with btw but I think it's unfair that this one family, who weren't exactly running a billion dollar empire, are getting so much flack for behaving in accordance with the law just because of who their daughter married.)

Yes, I do take issue with the general process whereby people can walk away from a failed business, leaving creditors and employees out of pocket, but keeping their substantial personal assets intact.

I'd say the same about anyone doing this, although I agree other smallish business wouldn't attract publicity in the same way, so there wouldn't be the opportunity for randoms like me to comment on it.

The Middletons played on the royal connection in their marketing - they can't expect to have publicity when things are good and then for the press to forget about them when things go wrong.

It's disgusting and it shouldn't be allowed.
It may be legal but it's immoral.

So creditors are left completely out of pocket and the Middletons and Olivers of this world can continue living their millionaire lifestyles.
I've seen it here in Ireland after the financial crash of 2008.
Developers owing multi millions are now back in the game.

Might I add though that in the Middleton's case the pandemic, which was totally out of their control was a huge contributor to the company going under.

The Middletons didn’t own it when it went bust
struggling to see how it’s anything to do with the Middletons let alone William and Kate

Yes, a fair point - and once people could start having parties again, we were plunged into the COL crisis meaning many people wouldn't be buying high-end party accessories.

They knew it was going down the tubes. Offloaded it.

There have always been lots of questions around the business and how it managed to rake in millions when at its peak they were processing some thousand orders a week for low value items and similar sized competitors were making a far more realistic looking £130k pa profit

Royal Wedding: Middletons' money - how was it made? (telegraph.co.uk)

One of the most intriguing ones for me is why they changed the business format from a partnership of decade's standing (unlimited liability) to a private limited company thus limiting their personal liability as recently as 2019.

It was already in administration when they sold it. Presumably the buyer planned to rescue it but this didn't work out, so it's folding for good.

We learnt about this some months ago, it's only in the news again because posters have been put up around their village, likely from one of the many unpaid small businesses upset they can be left with nothing while the Middletons retain all their personal assets. I would feel morally obliged to pay debts I could easily afford to pay.

That article is quite revealing @CathyorClaire
In 2002, they spent £780,000 – the equivalent of about £1.2 million today – to buy their eldest daughter a flat in Chelsea. They paid cash; Land Registry records show there is no mortgage on the property. In 2005, they bought several acres of land near their home – for £295,000, again in cash, and without a mortgage.

They are by anyones standards, incredibly wealthy. They could easily pay these debts themselves but chose not to do so because, sadly, our system allows this.

I think suppliers gave larger credit lines because of who they were, in the faith that were it ever to go sideways, they wouldn’t be left out of pocket because of the optics and personal wealth.

How do you know they can “ easily afford to pay “? Have to had sight of their bank account ?

I think you must of missed the article @CathyorClaire posted and the extract I copied above:

In 2002, they spent £780,000 – the equivalent of about £1.2 million today – to buy their eldest daughter a flat in Chelsea. They paid cash; Land Registry records show there is no mortgage on the property. In 2005, they bought several acres of land near their home – for £295,000, again in cash, and without a mortgage.

They can liquidate those assets and clear their debts.