Tag Archives: Bankruptcy

Tribune agreement could bring bankruptcy exit

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US newspaper publisher Tribune Company has reached an agreement with its creditors and lenders that will help it emerge from bankruptcy protection later this year, according to news from Reuters.

Tribune, which publishes the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The new agreement settles  all potential claims stemming from the 2007 $8.2 billion (£5.4 billion) Tribune leveraged buyout by Sam Zell in 2007.

The agreement has come under criticism from a group of junior boldholders holding $1.2bn (£780 million) of Tribune debt. They claim to have been unfairly cut out of the negotiating process, and have further criticised the make-up of the creditors committee, which includes bank lenders, normally excluded from such groups.

Full story by Reuters at this link.

The Star Tribune… going dark: employees launch online petition

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Minnesota’s largest news source, the Star Tribune, was declared bankrupt three months ago and is now in danger of going under. The paper is the largest in the area and the 15th largest in America itself.

Yet another American paper facing closure, it brings to mind the ‘Rocky Road Mountain News’, closed down earlier this year.

Employees have launched an online campaign in the hope of saving the newspaper: “We believe the Star Tribune is an essential community resource that is too valuable to lose,” says the ‘Save the Strib’ site.

On the site, readers are invited to submit business proposals. Also featured are reader testimonials and a petition.

NiemanJournalismLab: Implications of newspaper bankruptcy

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“Four major newspaper firms have now declared bankruptcy. The rest of the industry is on the ropes – sources of credit or equity funding have virtually dried up; there is basically no market into which to sell publishing assets to raise cash; the ability to maintain quality and to innovate is seriously hampered by continual cost-cutting necessary to maintain positive cash flow and meet debt service obligations,” Martin Langeveld writes on the NiemanJournalismLab.

Here, Langeveld gives a list of what will and won’t happen. What kind of changes will bankruptcies force on newspapers he asks?

Full story at this link…

WashingtonCityPaper.com: ‘An advance copy of the Washington Post’s reorganization plan’

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The WashingtonCityPaper shares ‘an advance copy of the Washington Post’s reorganization plan’.

The site, ‘forever a friend to local media institutions’, has announced it is ‘hereby stepping in and taking charge’.

“We’ve taken the time to interview key media strategists, examine the Post’s assets, and knit together a strategic plan for the ages.

“It’s all written up in corporatese, sans copyright, so the Post can just cut, paste, send to ALL, and gauge the reaction on FishBowlDC.

“It’s even in memo format, and it comes with ‘off the record’ boxes that will help Post employees sort through the mumbo-jumbo.”

Read, and enjoy.

Ironic snapshot at the LA Times: ‘YOU Own This Place Now’

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LA Times employee entrance, Dec 21 2007:

via Eric Ulken (former interactive technology editor at the LA Times).

‘Those signs seemed a bit disingenuous even then, given the structure of the deal to take the Tribune Company private. Now they seem, well, ridiculous’, he writes.

Ronkayela.com: This is not the end of your daily newspaper…

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Following the news that the Tribune Co. has filed for bankruptcy, ‘journalist turned activist’ and former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News, Ron Kaye, writes on his blog that this is not the end of your daily newspaper.

“It’s just the beginning of the end for hundreds of newspapers and the collapsing of many others into single regional franchises that can survive as the only source of printed news and advertising on a daily basis.”

Kaye, who was fired by the Daily News seven months ago, says ‘Let the conversation begin.’

US-based Tribune files for bankruptcy but continues operating

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More on this tomorrow, but just to link today’s (Monday) news that the Tribune Co. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as reported here by the group’s own newspaper the LA Times, as well as numerous other news sources. The group also owns KTLA Channel 5, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun as well as nine other newspapers and 22 other television and radio stations across the country. 

The group’s chief executive Sam Zell said in a statement (via CNNmoney.co.uk):

“Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm – a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt.” 

“We believe that this restructuring will bring the level of our debt in line with current economic realities, and will take pressure off our operations.” 

The groups says it is able to sustain operations while it restructures. Here, Editor & Publisher looks at concerns inside the newsroom.

Excerpts from Sam Zell’s memo can be read here.