Agoura Hills-based Easyriders Inc., the magazine publisher formerly headed by Orange County businessman John Martin, is going back to what it knows best: motorcycles and tattoos.
Before Easyriders can make the shift, though, its management must convince Nomura America Holding Inc. that the company will be worth more after a bankruptcy reorganization than through an outright sale.
Normura America, part of Japan’s Nomura Securities Co. and Easyriders’ major creditor, forced the company into bankruptcy in July. Subsidiary Paisano Publishing Inc. also filed for bankruptcy protection.
The filing capped a long restructuring at Easyriders. Former Taco Bell Corp. chief executive Martin quit as chairman of Easyriders in March, three years after touting an ambitious plan to transform the raunchy biker publishing company into a $2 billion hodgepodge of barbecue restaurants, motorcycle stores and events.
So far, Nomura, which underwrote the company’s recent restructuring, has resisted attempts by Easyriders to refinance a $21 million loan payment due Sept. 23, said Easyriders Chief Executive Robert Fabregas.
Easyriders, which publishes 13 magazines such as “American Rodder,” “Biker,” “Savage Tattoo” and “Easyriders,” is known for its bare-breasted layouts and raunchy fare. The company also markets a clothing line and licenses its name to more than 40 motorcycle shops nationwide.
In a $55 million transaction in 1998, Joseph Teresi, founder of company flagship “Easyriders” magazine, sold Paisano to Newsriders Inc., which formed a public company under the Easyriders name.
Martin, who has a passion for Harley Davidsons, once owned 28% of Easyriders and invested more than $17 million in the company.
Easyriders ultimately opened four El Paso BBQ restaurants, adding to the two previously owned by Newsriders. Easyriders sold off the restaurants in the fall of 2000 to Martin’s privately held company Culinary Holdings Inc. in Newport Beach, a small chain of upscale restaurants that includes French 75 in Laguna Beach and Chimayo Grill in Fashion Island. n
Satzman is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Business Journal.
