The Just for Laughs festival has received at least $13 million in grants from various ministries in just over 20 years, according to figures compiled by The newspaper.
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The amounts have been granted over the years by various organizations, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
The newspaper could not confirm whether, in the case of three grants awarded in 2022-2023 by the Ministry of Tourism (of $1 million each), these will still be granted despite the company’s setbacks.
The Group heavily in debt
Remember that the Just for Laughs Group has debts of some $42 million.
The newspaper has learned that a company not yet listed as unsecured creditors is awaiting a $15 million payment from the company’s current owners.
Behind this creditor, a management company appears with the name of Gilbert Rozon, the former CEO of the Just for Laughs Group who held this position from 1983 to 2018, for some $65 million.
The businessman, fallen founder of the Just for Laughs Group, therefore risks losing millions of dollars in the collapse of the company that he had sold.
The Just for Laughs Group was sold in 2018, in the wake of the #MeToo movement and lawsuits for sexual harassment and sexual assault against Gilbert Rozon.
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The 2024 edition canceled
The group, which has laid off nearly a hundred employees since December and canceled most of its activities on Tuesday, including the 2024 edition of the festival, is today owned by Bell (26%) and Evenko ( 25%) as well as Creative Artists Agency (49%), a company based in California.
The controlling shareholder of Creative Artists Agency has been, since last September, the French multi-billionaire François-Henri Pinault.
The latter is the spouse of the famous actress Salma Hayek.
Last February, Bell revealed revenues of $6.47 billion, adjusted operating income of $2.57 billion and net income of $435 million for the fourth quarter of 2023.
The newspaper also learned that the building in the entertainment district where the Just for Laughs offices are located was seized on February 27, a week before the entertainment company announced that it had taken shelter from its creditors, under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
–With the collaboration of Martin Jolicoeur and Nicolas Brasseur