Amp’d Mobile Inc.’s bankruptcy filing late last week capped a spectacular rise for the edgy wireless phone company started in Orange County.
The company got its start in Aliso Viejo before moving to Los Angeles in 2005.
Founder and Chief Executive Peter Adderton, who lives in Newport Coast, owns about 5%.
Adderton also started Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC in 2000, which markets pre-paid cell phones to the surf and skate crowd. He sold Boost Mobile to Sprint Nextel Corp. in 2004.
Amp’d Mobile, which aims to bring music, videos and social networking to 18- to 35-year-old cell phone users, said the bankruptcy move was a result of the company’s “rapid growth.”
The company expects business to go on a usual with its management “largely intact,” the company said.
The company is known for high subscriber turnover.
“Our back-end infrastructure was unable to keep up with customer demand. We are taking this step as a necessary and responsible action to sustain and strengthen our momentum in the market place,” the company said in a statement.
Amp’d is one of the region’s best-funded startups at more than $200 million. About $50 million is from backer MTV Networks, part of Viacom Inc.
Industry watchers say Amp’d Mobile’s debts are to blame.
Amp’d Mobile is looking to sort out its obligations with one of its top investors to restructure its debt. It didn’t name the investor.
According to the tech Web site mocoNews.net, Amp’d owes about $33 million to New York’s Verizon Wireless, part of Verizon Communications Inc.
The company rents space on Verizon’s network for its service.
The company owes more than $100 million, while its assets total less than that amount, according to the report.
It owes Motorola Inc. about $16 million; Universal Music Group, a unit of France’s Vivendi Universal SA, about $10 million; Best Buy Inc. about $8 million; and MTV Networks about $1.8 million; among others.
