A judge has approved the sale of the Big Apple Circus to Compass Partners LLC, an investment firm that intends to revive the circus by bringing holiday shows back to New York City’s Lincoln Center this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said during a court hearing yesterday that he was “happy to hear the news of a robust auction” for Big Apple Circus, which last week named Compass the winning bidder with a $1.3 million offer for the circus’s equipment and name. The sale represents an opportunity for new ownership to bring back Big Apple Circus which, faced with declining revenue and struggling to pay its debt, cancelled its 2016 performance schedule before seeking chapter 11 protection in November.
