Beautifully engraved SCARCE SPECIMEN certificate from Planet Hollywood International, Inc. This historic document was printed by the United States Banknote Corporation and has a block border with a vignette of the company logo. This item has the printed signatures of the Company's Chairman of the Board, Keith Barish and Robert Earl, President along with Demi Moore, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.
Certificate Vignette
Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl Enterprises was founded by Robert Earl.
It was launched in New York City on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. The actors recruited were paid for their appearances and endorsements through an employee stock ownership plan. Further celebrity endorsement included actors Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Don Johnson, Cindy Crawford, Melanie Griffith, Tom Arnold, Wesley Snipes, and Danny Glover; director John Hughes; comedian Roseanne Barr; and The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
As of the May 1998 IPO circular, the celebrities were only minor holders of stock with Earl and Barish owning 57.2 percent and a 24.2 percent stake owned by Ong Beng Seng. In April 1996, Planet Hollywood went public on the New York Stock Exchange at $18 a share.[10] The company's share price reached an all-time high of $32 on the first day of trading; by 1999, it was down to less than $1. The company has gone bankrupt twice. In addition to going public, the company had MBNA issue Planet Hollywood VISA credit cards that gave cardholders priority restaurant seating. Planet Hollywood International and ITT Corporation formed a joint venture for Planet Hollywood casinos. The corporation and Marvel Entertainment Group agreed to launch the Marvel Mania comic book character-based restaurant concept. The company also had started to develop Chefs of the World concept, which would feature a "'star-studded' culinary staff".
The company planned to expand by 30 to 40 percent each year in annual revenue and the number of restaurant locations. Additional competitors also started up, including Country Star chain, Harley-Davidson Café, Robert De Niro's Tribeca Grill and Thunder Roadhouse. Some speculated that the company had thinned its resources too much, and, with the trend of novelty location visits dropping, store revenue would continue to drop.[4]
In September 1997, Planet Hollywood International Inc. announced its Cool Planet Cafe ice-cream shop chain which would open 10 locations in 1998. ITT Corporation and Planet Hollywood were in discussion early September 1997 for a Planet Hollywood hotel near Times Square. The corporation then formed on September 24, 1997, a joint venture for an Official All Star Hotel.
In the fourth quarter of 1997, the company recorded a $40 million loss. Too much focus on diversification showed that the original chain was neglected with mediocre food, high menu prices and below normal service.[4] In early November 1998, Barish resigned as board chairman while retaining his board director post and filing to sell some of his company's stock. Earl replaced him as chairman. Barish was replaced by William Baumhauer as president. The franchise in Cape Town, South Africa, had a bomb attack in August 1998. $244 million in losses were recorded in 1998.
The first Marvel Mania opened in January 1998 near Universal Studios Hollywood. With MTV Networks, Planet Hollywood opened its first Sound Republic in London in mid-1998. In July 1999, the company started its Planet Movies by AMC. In August 1998, the first Cool Planet Cafe opened in Santa Monica, California.
In March 1999, Barish resigned as board director and sold shares that week. At a May 1999, shareholder's annual meeting, the company indicated that a delayed-payment agreement was in negotiation and that they were renovating some and are considering closing other outlets.
Causing little change on the company's net profit/loss line, Baumhauer resigned in June 1999, with the company having $359 million in debt on the books to return to his previous employer, Unique Casual Restaurants. By July 1999, Planet Hollywood had sold its Orlando HQ for cash and leased it back for 15 years. On October 12, 1999, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to reorganize. They closed or sold poorly performing Planet Hollywood restaurants and Official All Star Cafes. It moved to focus to its original theme concept, stopping operation of Planet Movies by AMC and sold its Sound Republic units.
Schwarzenegger severed his financial ties with the business in January 2000. Planet Hollywood exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 9, 2000, with the approval of its reorganization plan. New celebrities were sought out for their restaurants while renewing relationships with early recruits. The plan included capital and debt restructuring including a cash infusion plus new products and improvements to decor and the menu. Planet's first website was launched with entertainment news and chat rooms. Earl, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and Ong Beng Seng had led restructuring plan which left the company with 35 locations, 25 of which were franchised.
History from Wikipedia and RM Smythe.
About Specimens Specimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file". Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates were made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company. These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000.
