MONTREAL, Quebec (CelebrityAccess) — Groupe Juste pour rire inc. (“JPR”), producers of Montreal’s long-running Just For Laughs festival, announced that the event has been canceled for 2024 and the company is seeking bankruptcy protection
In a statement on Tuesday, JPR said:
“JPR’s board of directors, after having extensively considered all available alternatives, came to the conclusion that the financial situation of the organization left no other choice than to initiate formal restructuring proceedings.”
“This process will allow JPR to seek investors or strategic purchasers for all or part of its business, with the goal of maximizing value for stakeholders and hopefully preserving going concern operations as much as possible.”
According to the statement, JPR plans to continue operations in a scaled-down format and the company hopes to revive the Just For Laughs Festival for 2025.
The decision to seek restructuring was prompted by challenging conditions in both the festival industry and the media sector, JPL said.
“The pandemic was followed by the inflationary times we continue to experience, meaning our cost structure increased appreciably, exerting unprecedented financial strains on the organization,” JPL’s statement said. “In parallel, the media industry landscape has radically changed over the past few years. Consolidation and reduced budgets at the networks and streaming platforms have made television production more challenging.”
Originally founded in 1983 as a two-day French language comedy event, Just For Laughs expanded in 1985 to include English language content. Over the years, the festival brand has made several attempts to expand to the U.S., but the expansions failed to find purchase in markets such as Miami and Tampa.
The festival was acquired in 2017 by a partnership between ICM Partners and comedian Howie Mandel but the partnership sold a controlling stake in the brand to live events company Evenko and Bell Canada the following year in order to retain Canadian ownership of the event.
