Controversial boutique PC builder Artesian Builds has filed for bankruptcy over a month after the business was shut down.
artesian builds ceo
PCGamer reports that the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the state of California. As of late, they have over $3 million worth of liabilities, which includes around $1.37 million in unfulfilled orders. As part of the orders of the court-appointed restructuring officer, the company's assets are now up for sale.
In total, there's an estimated $917,595 worth of remaining inventory for Artesian that's already on the market. This is perhaps the cherry on top of its quick and spectacular collapse, which included several layoffs in the states of California and North Carolina.
Not to mention, the company also owes two PC component distributors a total of $450,000 and has a $200,000 credit card debt. Former employees are also owed paid time off, though all ex-workers did get their final paychecks.
What Caused This
As per the original PCGamer report, much of this is due to people asking for refunds in the wake of a controversial raffle involving owner/CEO Noah Katz. If you didn't know, Katz was the center of an extremely controversial PC build giveaway where he basically berated the winner, a Twitch streamer who goes by the handle kiapiaa, for her small-scale social media following.
Here is a quick snippet of him criticizing kiapiaa's follower counts, while also actually revoking her raffle win and opting to give it away to somebody else instead:
If you haven't heard @ArtesianBuilds do not care about their small streamer ambassadors. They have monthly PC giveaways for their ambassadors, great, right? Expect they don't care for small streamers. I got chosen and they changed their rules last minute (cont.) pic.twitter.com/CzDiq7VTZP
— kia (@kiapiaa_) March 1, 2022
Intel, who was one of the sponsors of the free PC build, stepped in and told Artesian Builds to give it away anyway, which they did. But kiapiaa has made up her mind and basically told Katz and Artesian to shove it, as per another PCGamer report. As a result of the massive backlash, Artesian had to shut down in early March and expressed their openness to assistance/investment. Obviously, those investments never came:
We are sad to announce that, effective now, we are freezing/suspending all activities. Ongoing is analysis by outside counsel for reorg. to ensure fair treatment of clients, creditors, and employees. We expect more info by month's end.
— Artesian Builds (@ArtesianBuilds) March 9, 2022
We are open to assistance/investment.
Early Indications Of Trouble At Artesian Builds
Here's one noteworthy thing about this whole Artesian Builds scandal: troubles were already popping up way before the controversial comments made by Katz live on air.
Dexerto reports that YouTuber Onepeg uploaded a video detailing more company-wide issues before the main Artesian Builds scandal. In his video he mentioned how the company was already basically broke before the PC build stream, with their assets already frozen by then.
He also mentioned how several employees tried to remove Noah Katz as CEO in the past, citing a "lack of leadership" and his overall toxic reputation as the reasons. Here is OnePeg's video if you want to watch it in its entirety.
Either way, the boutique gaming PC builder is now bankrupt. This usually means that folks who already spent their money on the company's services won't get it back. But a few of them did manage to do so, all by requesting chargebacks on their credit cards.
Respect begets respect, as they always say. And Artesian is a prime example of what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you.
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Written by RJ Pierce
