Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that CEO of ROK, Jason Njoku, confirmed in his article that Irokotv isn’t dead but facing some struggles.
Broadcast Media Africa is reporting that Iroko TV, once considered the “African Netflix” for its pioneering online streaming of Nollywood films and shows, has ceased operations in an unfortunate turn of events.
Founded in 2010 by Nigerian entrepreneur Jason Njoku, Iroko TV quickly gained global fame and subscribers as the first significant platform providing worldwide access to African entertainment content.
Taking to social media, Jason Njoku wrote: “Is @irokotv dead? We can all agree that 2023 has been a nightmare. For me, it’s been unusually brutal as I have spent considerable time dealing with debt restructuring, cost reductions and completing the 3-year turnaround of Iroko.
“We can all agree that 2023 has been a nightmare. For me, it’s been unusually brutal as I have spent considerable time dealing with debt restructuring, cost reductions and completing the 3-year turnaround of Iroko; an Iroko which I re-acquired from investors in May 2022, subsequently becoming the majority shareholder of a business I started 13 years ago. This was a glorious achievement, something I never believed possible and the culmination of all my efforts, struggles and dreams. I have always, and even in the face of facts, believed in Iroko. But for the longest time, she has struggled. She has survived by sheer force of will and, on occasion, literally Jesus taking the wheel.
“ROK supported her losses for many, many years. Selling ROK was about family wealth preservation and stability more than anything else. My wife Mary built something special without any input from anyone within Iroko. We incubated it, but all creative decision-making and relationships were her own. I built the commercial side, but I had to have something to sell. ROK is something no-one in Nollywood will ever come close to replicating in terms of its scale or impact. Structurally, Mary will likely make more money from Nollywood than anyone else, of that I am reasonably sure of. I’m glad to be her husband. So, young men, marrying well is the hack.
Let me not digress.
Anyhow, when Iroko exited ROK in 2019, I had the opportunity to exit too, and at the time, even Bastian asked if it made sense to continue struggling away. After all, wasn’t it always about liquidity? I could close IrokoTV down, distribute the remaining cash to shareholders and walk out into early semi-retirement. The story could have ended there. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis (I was 39 then). For some strange reason, I still felt I had plenty of fight left. I knew what I knew, and I knew who we wanted to become.
“Ultimately, to soften things, the board approved $5m in special dividends for shareholders, and the remaining capital went all in SVOD again. To go again, to build the big vision I had all those years ago – a massive, independently black-owned SVOD service. I used 70% of my cash windfall to reinvest in Iroko. I didn’t want cash. I wanted increased equity – which I bought from an exiting investor – and to go again. This was September 2019. By March 2020, COVID-19 happened, and the Nigerian maco-challenges, always lurking, exploded. Our international business boomed. Our local business evaporated. Our cost basis was wholly unsustainable. The subsequent Naira devaluations rendered our entire investment and business planning for Nigeria in shambles. But this isn’t news. I wrote about it at the time.”