Digital marketing agency No Standing has gone into voluntary liquidation, leaving 17 staff without jobs and with pay owing, according to documents lodged with corporate regulator ASIC.
Daniel Juratowitch of Cor Cordis has been appointed liquidator for the full service Melbourne-based agency founded in 2016. He estimates the company owes more than $2.5 million.
A company with a similar name, No Standing International Pty Ltd, was formed on March 20. A winding up motion for the original company, No Standing, was passed on May 1 and Juratowitch appointed.
Staff, who did not want to be named, said they were told that new employment contracts were coming for No Standing International but these had so far not materialised.
“Some have also been told their contracts won’t be renewed at all, despite being assured by management that everyone was safe and it's just a transition period,” one insider told AdNews.
“Over the course of five or six years, they’ve owed staff superannuation. They went on a payment plan with the ATO about five years ago, but didn't stick to it. They've never paid staff on time.
“The communication around it has just been awful and ... just really upsetting.”
The liquidator, in filings to ASIC, lists staff as being owed a total of $280,434.73.
Among the creditors is the Australian Tax Office, owed more than $1.3 million.
No Standing co-founders Sohan Karunaratne ($86,934.59) and Richard Penny ($382,720.78), chief innovation officer Scott Cleaver ($2,515.76) and chief operating officer Dimitri Mutombo ($290,349.33) are listed as unsecured creditors. HP Financial Services (Australia) Pty, JEM COMPUTER SYSTEMS PTY LTD and National Australia Bank are named as secured creditors.
Unsecured creditors also include Allianz ($9,217.31), hammerjack pty ltd ($107,075.14), Prospa Loan ($54,167.42), Similarweb ($6,997.18) and Twitter ($8,481.44).
Under the No Standing umbrella sits: No Standing, which handles digital marketing, websites and ecommerce and Web 3.0 marketing: creative agency ARTHAOS; influencer and PR company REALE; and SAAS online marketing platform GrowMetrics.
No Standing has worked with FC Barcelona, Harvey Norman, Red Bull and Blockchain Solutions Australia. The agency’s website also lists Guzman y Gomez, Australian Red Cross, Spotify and MECCA as clients.
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