Bankruptcy for owner Miss Universe: Danger for the global pageant?

Sheynnis Palacios, Miss Nicaragua, became the new Miss Universe after the American beauty queen  R'Bonney Gabriel wore the crown in the year following the 2022 pageant. The new Miss Universe, 23-year-old Palacios, was the first Nicaraguan woman to ever win the title.

Days before Miss Universe began, the Thai company that owns this beauty pageant, JKN Global Group, had declared bankruptcy. The news threw a shadow over the event.

The multinational media distribution conglomerate that purchased the Miss Universe organization for $20 million in 2022, announced that it had filed a "corporate rehabilitation" petition. The appeal had been accepted by Thailand's bankruptcy court.

Despite this difficult financial situation, JKN Global Group continued to carry out the 2023 contest in El Salvador.

In a statement published on its website, JKN stated that it would continue to be its top priority to offer a "first-class experience" to Miss Universe fans.

JKN Global Group says it is also confident that its new financial arrangements will support all of the company's business operations, including the organization of Miss Universe.

Declaring bankruptcy does not necessarily mean that a company is already completely underwater. Instead, declaring bankruptcy is a tool many large companies use as a way to get rid of debts and costs that they cannot absorb.

JKN Global Group had raised money through bonds to buy Miss Universe. Then, in September 2023, it missed the deadline to repay a loan of about $12 million. In its statement, the company said it planned to restructure its debt and extend the repayment period to overcome what it called a "liquidity problem," CNN reported.

When Anne Jakkaphong, CEO of JKN Global Group, took over Miss Universe, it was big news. She is transgender and known as an advocate for transgender rights. In her native Thailand, she was already famous for reality shows such as 'Project Runway.'

The Thai businesswoman indicated that she was interested in managing Miss Universe because she wanted to give a vision of greater diversity and inclusion to a contest as important as that beauty pageant.

In fact, in 2023, two transsexual women participated in Miss Universe. One of them was Rikkie Kollé (photo), who became the first transgender Miss Netherlands.

The other was Marina Machete, Miss Portugal (photo). They were not the first transgender candidates, though. In 2018, the first trans beauty queen entered the pageant with Ángela Ponce from Spain.

As the organization stated to CNN when Miss Portugal was crowned: "Transgender women are women, period. We are here to celebrate women, period. This has been the case for over a decade, and we are proud to have made this change very early compared to other programs."

In addition, in 2023, it was the first time that Miss Universe admitted two candidates who are married and have children: Camila Avella, the candidate from Colombia, and Michelle Cohn (photo), the representative of Guatemala.

These changes in the pageant rules are quite radical. With financial problems on top, it is not surprising that critics fear the downfall of Miss Universe.

The American Miss Universe R'bonney Gabriel handed over the crown to the new Miss Universe on November 18. Through this act came the end of a controversial reign.

The victory of Gabriel, especially on the national level before entering the global Miss Universe, was highly contested. With the pageant being a big, commercial operation with several interests from the beauty industry, questions arose about Miss Gabriel's connections to some of the pageant's sponsors.