Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made a $68 million bid to buy the summer camp his kids attended.
Zaslav’s Grandview Ventures reached a deal with Simad Holdings to provide the stalking horse bid for Camp Mohawk in Westchester County. Camp Mohawk’s parent company Simad Holdings filed for bankruptcy in June after it defaulted on payments to its Israeli bondholders.
“This is a personal family investment that reflects our lifelong belief that summer camp can be a wonderful part of a child’s growth, and Mohawk’s history as a successful camp experience for so many kids, including our own,” a spokesperson for Warner Bros said in a statement. Zaslav’s three children are now adults.
Bloomberg Law first reported on Zaslav’s offer.
Simad, founded by David and Michael Shabsels, owned 30 popular U.S. summer camps, including Camp Mohawk and Camp Blue Star. In late May, Simad revealed it would default on debt payments on $214 million of bonds in Israel. Simad further revealed that the Shabselses had diverted $34 million to companies they controlled. A month later, Simad and other Shabselses-controlled companies filed for bankruptcy. As part of the bankruptcy, the Shabselses handed over control of their companies to a restructuring officer.
Simad is now in the midst of selling its camps to repay its long list of creditors.
Mohawk is the most valuable and profitable of Simad’s 30 summer camps. An appraiser valued the camp at $85.8 million in a December 2025 appraisal. The camp had a projected revenue of $22.85 million for 2026.
As a stalking horse, Zaslav’s bid sets the floor price for the camp. Other bidders can submit higher bids in an auction. Bidders have until July 20 to file an objection to Zaslav’s selection as the stalking horse bidder. The bankruptcy court would still need to approve any winning bid.
The restructuring officer and attorneys in charge of Simad are moving fast. Last week, Simad agreed to sell Camp Achim, a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills, to the existing camp operator for $7 million, a slight increase from the camp’s appraised value of $6.3 million. The deal still awaits approval from the bankruptcy court.
The sales prices give an indication of the recovery creditors can expect to receive. If the camps sell for close to the appraised values, Simad’s secured creditors should get repaid. Appraisal company Leitner Berman valued Simad’s camps at $466 million in December 2025, substantially more than the amount owed to secured creditors of $344 million. Simad, through the Shabselses, also took on over $100 million in high-interest merchant cash advance loans. But those lenders are listed as unsecured creditors and are unlikely to be paid back.
Mohawk consists of a day camp and a school known as Camp Mohawk Day Camp and Country Day School. The White Plains, New York, camp was founded in 1930.
Simad recently secured $60 million in debtor-in-possession financing to allow its camps to operate for the summer session.
Zaslav is seeking to buy Mohawk amid Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. This week, a dozen state attorneys general sued Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery to stop the deal over antitrust concerns.
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