Dice Inc Case Analysis

This detailed analysis encompasses vital concepts in bankruptcy and reorganizations, corporate responsibility and business ethics, finance and restructuring of debt. The analysis examines issues faced by a company experiencing financial distress such as a conflict of interest among debt holders, management and stockholders and corporate responsibility in practice.
Dice, Inc, a provider of online recruiting services for technology professionals faced a series of challenges which included a troubled economy, undesirable balance sheets and heartless debt holders following the crash of the dot.com bubble. The company earned revenue from customer purchase of monthly subscriptions or long term contracts. However, Dice never reported net income and
The new management however failed to come up with any new strategies to rise the company out of the abyss. Clearly the situation for dice was dire but the management still hoped it would implement a successful strategy to improve its capital structure and bankruptcy would not be in the company’s future.
Some companies such as Elliot Associates still believed in Dice and they began to put into motion a strategy to take control of the company. Dice management had to implement a restructuring plan and rejuvenate the company beyond the last resort of bankruptcy. Dice had a number of possibilities that they could have made concerning the company’s structure such as a merger, acquisition, and sale, debt restructuring or refinancing before the company’s cash position had sunk well below its debt obligation.
Dice however faced an insurmountable obstacle while deciding upon a strategic alternative to improve its capital structure and maintain its viability. This was the strong position of the debt holders. Elliot Associates, one debt holder had not only owned most of the outstanding debt of the company at more than a 70% discount, but had purchased a controlling stake in the company’s stock at low prices putting the future of the company in its