It’s over for 50 Below, as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved the sale of its assets to two companies on Nov. 7. 
The Duluth, Minn.-based company’s retail division was sold to Milwaukee-based ARI for $5 million, while its financial services division was sold to San Diego-based Emerald Connect for $3.5 million.
50 Below, with more than 200 employees, designs and builds websites for tire dealers, service shops, powersports dealers and other retailers. In August, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, primarily because of millions of dollars in federal and state taxes the company owed.
At the time of the initial filing, 50 Below’s bankruptcy attorney Mike McGrath told local media that the bankruptcy filing would allow the company to repay its tax debt in a structured fashion over five years, while giving the company the opportunity to restructure itself.
According to Minnesota newspaper reports, 50 Below faced tax debt issues since 2006, and reportedly piled up millions in both federal and state payroll taxes.
After the divestiture, Roy Olivier, president CEO of ARI, said that his company had been interested in purchasing 50 Below for quite some time. "We think they’ve done a great job in terms of platform perspective," he said. "We know their customer service is the highest in the industry, and we’re interested to bring that to the ARI family. We think it’s going to be a great combination."
Competitive company Dominion Enterprises had sought to buy 50 Below’s retail division, but lost the bid to ARI. The company filed an objection to this decision, arguing that its bid of $5.15 million was greater than ARI’s bid and that ARI had received preferential treatment.
According to 50 Below’s trustee Nauni Jo Manty, the assets were sold to ARI instead of Dominion in order to preserve the business in Duluth.
Olivier said that customers on the 50 Below platform will continue to see “high quality results” going forward. "We plan on investing in and growing this business. We’re going to focus on the same high quality service that 50 Below delivered previously, and we’re going to enhance the quality by putting in better content and making it a better source of revenue for the dealers. We’re really excited about it."
