Did he ever explain what happened to the first investor he announced he had partnered with back in the WOZ days?  That fell through I think but he never said anything about it.

Good for pinball that he finally got someone to tip some $$'s in because I sure as hell didn't believe The Hobbit delays were only because of playfield redesign and vendor delays.  Well, of course the vendor is going to delay if they don't have payment.

The whole situation sure looked like a company strapped for cash.  With the Predator and Jpop garbage I don't think there was any way he was going to be able to  use the proposed Lawlor pin to give him the cashflow to complete The Hobbit orders.  Only thing to do would be drag it out and keep building WOZ's as new orders for them trickled in and slowly get the cash flow from that, no point building mainly fully paid Hobbits if cash is scarce.  Then hope/look for a white knight/investor.

I'm guessing any investor got equity and I'm not sure why JJP would give that away if things are all rosy and he was on the cusp of being a fully sustainable business.

Anyhow, hopefully it's good news for Hobbit preorders, good news for JJP and therefore good news for pinball in general.

Good relevant fact based observations there Slash.  

On the financial side the only people who are privy to that sort of information would be Jack, his accountant/attorney and the investors themselves so it would pointless trying to speculate and make any kind of ass umptions as to the company's current profitability status per unit, particularly when it relates to ass umptions about his personal assets and investment in said company.

As long as there is some form of viable competition to keep Stern on their toes (whether it be a major competitor or a series of boutiques) and prevent pinball slipping back into mediocrity.