Atari, Bethesda-Parent ZeniMax Snag Funding

In separate announcements, both ailing publisher Atari Inc. and Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media have secured significant bundles of cash to continue operations. New York-based Atari, owned by Paris-headquartered Infogrames, received $10 million credit from Infogrames shareholder BlueBay High Yield Investments, and Providence Equity Partners bought $300 million worth of Maryland-based ZeniMax's preferred stock. But the $10 million won't come close to solving Atari's problems, whose parent company recently announced plans for a major restructuring after Atari filed a delayed fiscal year 2007 report detailing a $69.7 million loss. The announcement from Atari described the $10 million credit as "a first step in securing financing to build inventory for the 2007 calendar holiday season and for day-to-day working capital needs," though it added that "additional financing is being sought." ZeniMax, on the other hand, has a much brighter outlook, with the $300 million planned to "fund future growth, increase game development and publishing, facilitate acquisitions, and finance massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)," according to the announcement.