Revlon Inc. told the judge overseeing the cosmetics giant’s bankruptcy that shareholders don’t need a special, company-funded committee to represent them in the chapter 11 case because there is no evidence the equity is worth anything, Bloomberg News reported. The company urged U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge David S. Jones in Manhattan to reject the request from minority equity owners in part because low bond prices imply that equity has little hope of recouping anything. The committee representing unsecured creditors also asked Judge Jones to reject a shareholder committee. “Revlon stock trading has all the outward appearances of a so-called ‘meme’ stock,” the committee said in its objection, referring to shares that rise in value only because of Internet chatter, not economic reason. Revlon shares tumbled as much as 34% to as low as $5.62 Monday before rebounding to around $8.31, leaving it down some 2% on the day. That price is up from as little as $1.17 in June. Nearly all official committee are appointed by the Office of the U.S. Trustee, an arm of the U.S. Justice Department that acts as a watchdog in corporate bankruptcies. In the Revlon case, the office appointed the unsecured creditor committee, but last month rebuffed the shareholders. The shareholder group, which owns 4.7% of Revlon’s common stock, asked Judge Jones on Aug. 9 to order the U.S. Trustee to appoint a panel. On that day the shares closed at about $8.
