The court on Monday authorized the acquisition of the Just for Laughs Group (JPR) by ComediHa! at the end of a liquidation process launched three months ago, when the former Quebec flagship placed itself sheltered from its creditors. Further layoffs are now expected, as only a handful of Just for Laughs employees are expected to retain their positions following this transaction.
ComediHa!, of which Quebecor is a minority shareholder, acquires all of JPR’s assets with the exception of the building housing the company’s head office, located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard. This building, valued at $4.9 million, has just been sold to another buyer whose identity was not revealed Monday.
This means that ComediHa! will get their hands on the festival, the TV production and the precious catalog of Juste pour laughs, which includes, among other things, the show The Gags, sold in around fifty countries. All activities of the group’s English-speaking counterpart, Just for Laughs, should also be transferred to ComediHa!.
Based in Quebec for 25 years, ComediHa! was until then the direct rival of Just for Laughs. The company organizes ComediHa every year in the old capital! Fest, formerly known as Grand Rire Bleue. She will also present an event this summer in Montreal, in the Quartier des spectacles, in the absence of the Just for Laughs festival. ComediHa! also produces shows and TV shows.
The merger of the two main players in the comedy industry in Quebec will lead to further job losses. Of the 21 employees still working at Just for Laughs, there should only be between five and 10 left at the end of the transaction, controller Christian Bourque, who led the liquidation process, told the court.
The Just for Laughs Group had around a hundred employees at the start of the year. Three-quarters of them were laid off — officially temporarily — last March, when the company invoked the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Everything indicates that these layoffs will now take the form of permanent layoffs.
Long debacle
Just for Laughs has had its share of difficulties since 2017, after its founder Gilbert Rozon was targeted by allegations of sexual misconduct. In the process, the businessman sold the group to American interests. At the time of taking shelter from its creditors, Just for Laughs was 49% owned by the Hollywood agency Creative Artists Agency. Bell and the CH Group shared the rest of the shares, so that the company remained majority Canadian-owned and could thus continue to receive subsidies.
The management of shareholders has sometimes been singled out in recent weeks to explain the collapse of Just for Laughs. Other reasons have been put forward, starting with the pandemic and the crisis in the TV industry. According to the comptroller’s report, between January and October 2023 alone, Just for Laughs suffered losses of $8 million.
A legal battle between Just for Laughs and a former employee, archivist André Gloutnay, also played a key role in the sequence of events that led to the group’s sale. André Gloutnay was fired in 2019 by Just for Laughs after 25 years of service. He claimed that Gilbert Rozon had promised him a job for life and asked to be reinstated in the company. Last February, the Court of Appeal found him partly in favor, and ordered Juste pour laughs to compensate him to the tune of $666,500. This decision led to a seizure, which prompted JPR to subsequently seek protection from its creditors.
Through his lawyer, Mr. Gloutnay tried to delay the sale of Just for Laughs on Monday at the Montreal courthouse. Judge Martin Castonguay, of the Superior Court, saw it as a way for the former archivist to try to “improve his personal position” in the process aimed at repaying creditors. His request was rejected, and the judge gave his authorization to the transaction, the formalization of which now appears to be a formality. The amount of this has not been made public.