I agree with you. I don't think the advances should be paid back with cash. The problem is with Camsing, there isn't any reason Disney should sign a waiver for that debt, even if it may never be paid back. The new POW! Entertainment would always be saddled with that debt. Camsing wants to buy POW! debt free.
I'm afraid Stan and Gill will offer to pay Disney the money back out of the offer just to make the deal go through.
You could be right, other companies might have known. But, the right companies might not have known. Most likely POW! will cost any acquirer about $2 million a year to keep. it wouldn't affect the bottom line of billion dollar companies like Disney. It would be noticeable in smaller companies. And the IP POW! generates is pretty specific. If you don't need superheroes it's useless IP.
Disney, Time Warner, and Amazon.com are the US companies that make the most sense to buy POW!. They all have vertical media integration from comic books to TV to movies. POW!s IP could always work at these companies. POW! may have talked to Disney (I'm not convinced) but I doubt they talked to Warner or Amazon.
