Actor Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey claimed victory last week in a successful bid for the Tully’s Coffee chain; however, a company which was teamed up with coffee giant Starbucks challenged him. According to Yahoo News on Jan. 11, Dempsey’s ownership group has been legally declared the victor by a federal bankruptcy judge.
That other company, AgriNurture Inc. said it was still willing to go forward with a combined bid with Starbucks Corp. of about $10.6 million. The bid from Global Baristas LLC, Dempsey’s company, was for $9.2 million. Judge Karen Overstreet said that the Jan. 4 auction was fair, no mistakes had been made and Dempsey’s company would get the coffee company.
Patrick Dempsey said he was “thrilled that we prevailed."
"I've been deeply humbled by the outpouring of support from the city of Seattle and am very proud to be a new business owner in this amazing city," he said in a statement. "We have a lot to accomplish over the next few months and years, and I am excited to now call Seattle my second home."
There were a lot of issues involved in this sale, one of which was keeping the coffee shop chain intact. That was the wish of Tully’s Coffee owner TC Global Inc. The Starbucks-AgriNurture deal would have kept a certain amount of the shops as Tully’s and turned the rest of them into Starbucks stores.
Friday’s hearing lasted several hours. Judge Overstreet said the auction and the arguments presented by all sides were intricate, but it was not her job to second-guess the decision made by Tully's executives to accept Dempsey's bid.
"Was it complicated? Yes. Did it produce a fantastic result for this case? Yes it did," Overstreet said.
Patrick Dempsey feels there is room in Seattle for both Tully’s and Starbucks. After the win, Dempsey went to a Tully’s store near Pike Place Market and shook hands with workers and customers.
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