Results tagged “trouble”

Back when antediluvian diners sought opinions without the help of the Internet, Tim and Nina Zagat built a restaurant survey and ranking empire, which grew into a sprawling international family of guides on everything from dating to dumping. Just before the financial collapse really got nasty, they tried to sell the whole enterprise for $200 million, and are rumored to have turned down offers as high as $100 million. Today, the Post finds the Zagats in deep weeds, largely due to competitors like Yelp, which now boasts more than 7 million U.S. visitors per month with reviews on all sorts of things, including Zagat! By comparison, Zagat's website, which requires a $25 annual fee, averaged just 270,000 unique visitors last month. The company laid off 16 people, and the Zagats have given up trying to sell it. As one Yelper opines, "If Zagat was the bomb, [Yelp] wouldn't exist, so thanks for sucking so bad, Zagat. I almost was forced to go to Chinese food in Chinatown due to an out-of-town colleague who had armed himself with Zagat and biblical notions of self importance... In the end, I won and we ended up at a real restaurant that didn't have to pay for a review." Well, not exactly.

Today's Times exposé on the financial woes gripping the owners of StuyTown and Peter Cooper Village is filled with insider analysis that makes our eyes glaze over, such as, "At Stuyvesant Town, there is a $3 billion first mortgage, or commercial mortgage-backed security, and a $1.4 billion second loan, known as “mezzanine debt” held by SL Green, the government of Singapore and others." But the bottom line is easy enough to grasp; as one analyst puts it, "I’d say their equity has been wiped out, given the decline in apartment values."

Producers have confirmed what the Post's Michael Riedel revealed on Friday: Julie Taymor's big budget Broadway musical adaptation of "Spider-Man"—believed to be the most expensive production in the history of Broadway—has big problems. (Besides being a musical about Spider-Man.) Insiders say Taymor's burning through money at an alarming rate, and the budget for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark could easily hit $50 million. Now work on the production has been suspended because of "an unexpected cash flow problem," and rumor has it that Sony and Marvel are ousting the show's lead producer, David Garfinkle, a showbiz lawyer with virtually no producing experience. With music and lyrics by U2's Bono and the Edge, and direction from the woman who brought you The Lion King, it seems inevitable that the spectacle will debut someday, and a publicist insists it will begin previews as scheduled in February, 2010. But Riedel declares, "If that happens, I'll eat my young."

Duane Reade may be a soulless corporate chain, but its our corporate chain, forged right here in 1960 at a warehouse between its eponymous Tribeca streets. But despite (or because of?) its ubiquity—253 locations in NYC and counting—Duane Reade is deeply in debt, and last week its corporate parent, private-equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, shelled out $125 million to save Duane Reade from defaulting on its debt.

A judge ruled that Leona Helmsley's multibillion dollar fortune can be distributed to a number of charities—and not just dog-related ones. The real estate mogul, who died in 2007, had wanted her $5-8 billion fortune to go to canine charities (she also left $12 million to her dog Trouble, but that was reduced to $2 million by a judge), but now The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust's trustees will be able to determine where the money goes. A statement from the trust notes, "In the hope that this would be the court's decision, the trustees have been diligently working to identify potential grantees so the Trust's funds would be put to optimal use as soon as possible in such areas as health care, medical research, human services, education, and various other areas."

Since Leona Helmsley died last year at the age of 87, details of the Queen of Mean's will and wishes have caused chatter amongst those who knew and knew of her. Most notably, her dog, a Maltese named Trouble, was left a hefty $12 million...surely more than he can spend in his lifetime! The move led to death threats against the pup, who now has a security team that costs around $100K per year. She also mandated from the afterlife that her tomb be “acid-washed or steam-cleaned” once a year.

Leona Helmsley’s dog Trouble, who was famously bequeathed $12 million from the late real estate tycoon, will now have to make do on a measly $2 million, according to the Post. Helmsley had set aside the money for the care of her beloved Maltese while also disinheriting two of her grandchildren, Craig Panzirer, 40, and Meegan Panzirer Wesolko, 37, "for reasons which are known to them." The siblings have now hammered out a deal with Helmsley’s executor, having argued that the billionaire “Queen of Mean” was not of sound mind when she signed the will in 2005.

Being heir to $12 million can be a real dog. Especially if you're Trouble Helmsley, the cherished Maltese owned by the late real estate developer Leona Helmsley. "Queen of Mean" Helmsley shocked people from the grave by leaving $12 million to the pooch, which was more than what her grandchildren (combined) inherited. Helmsley's friend John Codey, who oversees Helmsley's trust, reveals that there have been many death threats: "We received any number of threats to...