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Surveillance camera maker Arecont Vision LLC yesterday filed for bankruptcy, seeking a court-supervised sale of its business to a New York-based private-equity firm, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Glendale, Calif., company sought chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., weighed down by about $73 million in debt. In court papers, Scott Avila, Arecont Vision’s recently appointed chief restructuring officer, pegged much of the company’s trouble on “increased competition from Chinese manufacturers who are able to produce and sell products at lower price points.” Revenues fell from $72.7 million in 2016 to $41.7 million in 2017, court papers show.

Comfort shoe maker Rockport Co., citing “today’s evolving retail landscape” and a costly separation from former owner Adidas AG, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy with a plan to hand ownership to private-equity firm Charlesbank, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rockport was founded in 1971 and supplies its shoes to department stores and specialty retailers, as well as online and at some of its own stores, in more than 60 countries, according to court filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The Newton, Mass.-based company, which filed for protection from creditors in the U.S. and Canada, said that it may seek to close some of its own locations while under court protection. In court papers, interim Chief Financial Officer Paul Kosturos blamed Rockport’s bankruptcy on a “costly and time consuming separation” from former owner Adidas Networks, along with supply-chain interruptions and a contract dispute with expeditors.

Next month, Toys ‘R’ Us is putting its famous mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, on the auction block along with website domains such as 'sex-toys-r-us.com,' Reuters reported.The adult-oriented domain name is one of hundreds of website addresses that the bankrupt toy-store chain is looking to find a buyer for as it winds down its business and shutters 735 U.S. stores, according to court records. Also up for sale: ihatetoysrus.com, toysrussucks.com, kinkytoysrus.com and adult-toys-r-us.com. Companies like Toys ‘R’ Us often register related domain names to guard against someone hijacking their brand for their own business, said Bob Phibbs, a brand specialist and chief executive of the Retail Doctor consulting firm. The company is selling its intellectual property, which includes its name, Geoffrey the Giraffe logo, and the Babies ‘R’ Us brand, to raise money to repay its creditors. Brand specialists said it could be one of the most valuable brands ever sold by a company going out of business.

Videology Inc., a Baltimore advertising technology firm, has filed for chapter 11 protection as part of a proposed deal to sell the company’s assets to Amobee, a global technology firm, the Baltimore Sun reported. Founded by former Advertising.com founder Scott Ferber, Videology has debt between $100 million and $500 million, according to the voluntary petition filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company develops software for TV and video advertising. Amobee is expected to be the lead bidder in a bankruptcy sale of Videology’s assets. Ferber said the company has established itself as a successful provider of software for TV and video advertising, serving some of the biggest names in the industry. But the company lacks the resources, capital and time to grow in an industry that’s just beginning to transform TV and video advertising.

The founder and two former members of New York investment firm Premium Point Investments LP on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges that they inflated the value of assets held by the firm’s hedge funds by more than $200 million, Reuters reported. Premium Point founder Anilesh Ahuja, former partner Amin Majidi and former trader Jeremy Shor pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan federal court. Premium Point, which specialized in mortgage-related investments through hedge and private-equity funds, managed assets valued at more than $5 billion at its peak, according to prosecutors. It filed for bankruptcy in March.

Blog publisher Gizmodo Media Group wants to prevent billionaire investor Peter Thiel from potentially funding defamation lawsuits brought against the media company over articles published in 2016 on the websites Deadspin and Jezebel, the Wall Street Journal reported. To that end, Gizmodo Media is asking a judge to broaden the scope of an agreement between Thiel, his firm Thiel Capital LLC, and an adviser liquidating Gawker Media LLC for the benefit of Gizmodo and its employees, according to a filing on Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The current agreement, signed last month, would prevent Thiel from financing litigation against writers who wrote articles for Gawker.com, a blog that shut down in August 2016 and is set to be sold in bankruptcy. Gizmodo Media, a subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc., operates Gawker Media’s other former blogs, which the company acquired in a bankruptcy auction for $135 million. Gizmodo Media isn’t a party to the agreement between Thiel and Gawker Media.

The second-biggest operator of Applebee’s restaurants said it filed for bankruptcy this week partly to protect its franchise rights in two states, but while it is under chapter 11 protection it also plans to negotiate new leases and contracts, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Atlanta-based RMH Franchise Holdings Inc., owner of 159 Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants in 15 states, sought chapter 11 protection on Tuesday. The franchisee’s restaurants represent slightly less than 10 percent of all Applebee’s locations. “Significant challenges encountered by the Applebee’s brand generally, and specific managerial decisions made on behalf of it by its franchisor, Applebee’s International Inc.,” have hurt the franchisee’s operations and left it “facing near-term liquidity issues,” RMH Chief Financial Officer Mitchell Blocher said in a filing Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Over the past year, the franchisee has been negotiating new lease terms, closing poor-performing locations, and trying to reduce corporate and back-office costs, he said.

Bank of America said yesterday that it was standing by its pledge to stop financing civilian assault weapons and suggested it may be preparing to exit a loan for gun-maker Remington Outdoor Corp. that sparked criticism of the lender, Reuters reported. The statement by Vice Chairman Anne Finucane follows a Reuters report on Sunday that the lender was participating in a $193 million credit facility that will help stabilize Remington’s business when it emerges from bankruptcy this month. After the report, activists including student gun control activist David Hogg were critical of the bank and took to Twitter using the #BoycottBankofAmerica hashtag. Hogg was a student at the high school in Parkland, Fla., where a February shooting helped touch off a renewed push for stricter U.S. gun control. “Let me be clear: We are not changing our policy to end financing of the manufacture of these military-style firearms,” said Finucane, who emphasized that the policy change was on a go-forward basis. She said the Remington financing was in the works for months before the firearms policy was announced on April 10.

Cenveo Inc.’s reorganization plan, which looks to protect company insiders from future litigation, is facing obstacles from the Securities and Exchange Commission, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The regulator is objecting to Cenveo’s so-called disclosure statement and reorganization plan because it provides releases to company insiders (including management), lenders and bondholders. Such releases would shield them from being sued in the future. “As written, the plan would bar the SEC from enforcing its full police and regulatory powers against the released parties,” the agency wrote in court papers filed on Wednesday. The SEC, in court papers, noted that an examiner was put in place in March to oversee the bankruptcy proceedings. Susheel Kirplani was appointed by the U.S. Trustee in late March after a key creditor called for the appointment in order to investigate potential insider transactions that could benefit the family behind Cenveo.

A group of Toys ‘R’ Us workers wants proceeds from the retailer's liquidation -- as well as the accumulated income that the chain’s private-equity owners have reaped over the years -- to make a severance payment to those laid off, Bloomberg News reported. A petition calls for Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust to hand over to employees the $470 million that the firms had received in interest and fees from Toys ‘R’ Us. The retailer’s 30,000 employees would get more than $15,000 each under that plan, which has 50,000 signatures. The workers are also lobbying members of Congress to ask for a tax on private-equity and hedge-fund profits, and new regulation on leveraged buyouts and stock-buyback transactions.