The investor and former juror of the television show “Die Höhle der Löwen”, Georg Kofler, has announced bankruptcy under self-administration for his online trading company The Social Chain AG. At the same time, he resigned his position as CEO “with immediate effect,” as the company announced on Monday. Board member Stefan Kiwit also announced his resignation.
“After a thorough examination, the board of directors came to the conclusion that there was no longer a positive forecast for the continued existence of the company,” the report said. He therefore decided to “immediately apply for the opening of insolvency proceedings”. Despite contractual assurances, an investor did not pay in the promised funds as part of a capital increase, Social Chain further announced. This was followed by negotiations with other investors about further funding, which have now failed. The consumer goods subsidiary DS, which Kofler bought a few years ago from his television colleague Ralf Dümmel, who is still on the jury for “Lion’s Den”, is not affected by the bankruptcy. “The business operations of these companies continue without restrictions,” it said.
So far, Social Chain has mainly been active on social media platforms, where it marketed and sold food, fitness and beauty products with a network of influencers. The listed company had already informed the shareholders about the defaulting investor as part of the capital increase almost two weeks ago, also in an ad hoc manner. However, it was not initially known which investor it was and how large the missing sum was.