IF LIONEL has no Assets; MTH 0 LIONEL 0

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

In a recent discussion; It was noted that over the last two years Lionel has sold off most if not all of its assets. There may be an unused factory remaining. Lionel is more of an importer than a design and production facility as most of the design production is done overseas. Whereas Lionel here is but the sales people; the only other value is the trademark.

Maybe the Michigan Jury members with UAW cards were trying to say something too.

Fact is if Lionel is actually a shell with no assets; they may decide to do nothing; you can’t get money from an turnip!

Alan

2

After all I’ve read about the subject, I really don’t care.

3

You are entitled to your comment of course, but why look at a thread that doesn’t interest you or comment on it? It would be like me responding to topics on MTH’s products. [#oops]

I do care and I thank you Alan. I had no idea. This whole thing could be getting very sticky.

4

Lionel does have assets. They have 75 years worth of tooling that I’m sure amount to something, as well as their “archives”(if they still exist) that contain every Lionel piece ever produced.

5

Assets: Tooling/design plans as mentioned. TMCC. The Name “Lionel” itself is a big asset.

6

But how do you cash in on the 41 trademarks, I guess will be seeing more “LIONEL, etc.” on different products.

Does anyone know for sure that they still have the old tooling; what is value of that;

Same goes for the archives; will it be up for sale on eBay??? What is the value; it is not that of a Da Vinci painting??

What is the archive worth?? $41 mill??? I don’t know does anyone??

Alan

7

The archive and old tooling certainly could be worth a few million. My guess is the trademark and licensing may churn out a few million a year in revenue at most. I doubt all of it together is worth as much as 40 million, because it would have to churn out a steady net return of 3-4 million per year to make it worthwhile as an investment. So unless Lionel gets this judgement reversed or reduced over the next few months to years, I’d guess, as an independent company, they might well be history. Fortunately I think the chances of reversal on appeal or substantial reduction of the award are quite good. But we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

8

Where are the archives located? Can the public view them?

9

The archives are located in Michigan at headquarters. They are not publicly available to my knowledge. One misconception you will see is that they were sold off a few years back. It is true that some materials were sold, but the vast majority of historical items and documentation were retained by the company, not sold. I doubt they are worth more than a few million dollars, nonetheless, if that.