THE company that owns the world-renowned pageant has had to file for bankruptcy just days before its premiere.

JKN Global Group, which owns Miss Universe has announced that it filed for bankruptcy, a week before the pageant is set to air on television.

The company announced Thursday that it had officially submitted a petition for “business rehabilitation” that had been approved by Thailand’s bankruptcy court.

The court has agreed to a hearing date for the petition on January 29, according to the firm.

JKN Global Group plans to use the bankruptcy to restructure the company debts, however, they insist that it would not interfere with the Miss Universe competition and other plans.

“The company can continue its operation while being under the rehabilitation plan,” JKN said.

The pageant organization was bought by the company last year for $20 million.

While they funded the deal with bonds, they had missed a repayment deadline of $12million, which was due on September 1.

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Since 2022, the share price has fallen significantly by more than 80%.

Last year the company announced that it planned to grow the Miss Universe Organization and expand in Asia.

The organization is currently run by Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, a transgender rights advocate and reality star.

The pageant’s new ownership has brought a lot of new changes including allowing mothers and married women to participate.

This is not the first shakeup in the organization, as the Miss Universe pageant has been broadcast for 70years in over 165 different countries.

From 1996 to 2015 the organization was co-owned by former president Trump.

However, he had to sell his portion of the company after two television partners refused to broadcast the pageant, due to the comments he made about illegal immigrants during his presidential campaign.

“When I purchased the pageants many years ago, they were in serious trouble,” Trump said following the company’s sale to US talent agency WME-IMG in 2015.

“It has been a great honor making them so successful. The pageants are now in the hands of a great company that will shepherd them to even greater levels of success.”