The trans owner of Miss Universe pageant files for bankruptcy

The Thai media company that owns the Miss Universe pageant has filed for bankruptcy. Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg report that JKN Global Group made the announcement in a statement to the Thai Stock Exchange on Thursday, citing a “liquidity problem.”

JKN Global Group is owned by Thai transgender media mogul Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, who also goes by Anne JKN and was described as the third richest transgender person in the world by Forbes in 2020. At the time she was reported to have an estimated net worth of $210 million. Her company purchased the Miss Universe organization last year from IMG-Endeavor for a reported $20 million.

Related: Two trans women will be competing in the Miss Universe competition

The first transgender contestant in the Miss Universe pageant, Angela Ponce, represented Spain in 2018.

However, according to the BBC, funding for the Miss Universe deal was raised through bonds. In August, Bloomberg reported that JKN Global Group had delayed bond payments due September 1, citing global and domestic economic challenges. The company’s share price has reportedly fallen more than 80 percent over the last year, according to the BBC.

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In its statement this week, the company said that its board of directors had agreed to submit a rehabilitation plan to Thailand’s bankruptcy court. “Submitting the rehabilitation petition will effectively solve the Company’s liquidity problem under legal mechanism and provide fair protection to all stakeholders,” the statement read. It added that the company could continue its operation under the plan.

According to News24, the 2023 Miss Universe pageant will go on as planned on November 18 in El Salvador. Two transgender contestants, Rikkie Valerie Kollé and Marina Machete, are set to compete.

Jakrajutatip is the first woman to own the Miss Universe organization, which was owned by former President Donald Trump from 1996 to 2015.

Earlier this year, Jakrajutatip told LGBTQ Nation’s Greg Owen that she was partly inspired to buy the organization after seeing Spanish contestant Ángela Ponce compete in Thailand in 2018. Transgender women have been allowed to compete in the pageant since 2012, but Ponce was the first openly transgender contestant in the pageant’s history.

“I was in the front row,” Jakrajutatip recalled. “She was the first trans woman walking on the stage in the final competition. She came on this stage, she cried. She talked in the video, ‘I did not come here to win. I just wanted to come here to convince everyone that yes, we can do it. There are trans women. And trans women, we are women.’ I cried. I stood up and I applaud her a lot, to the point, like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is it, I’ve been to the full circle moment. And this is my next move. Yes. My next move.’”

Jakrajutatip said that she wanted the pageant “to elevate people to the next level, to be the best version of themselves.”

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