The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the publisher of newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune struggled to cope with its $13 billion debt and falling ad revenue.
Tribune, which was acquired last year by billionaire real estate investor Samuel Zell, had hired bankruptcy advisers in recent weeks as it negotiated with creditors over debt covenants.
It is only the latest — and biggest — sign of duress for the newspaper industry yet. Several newspaper companies have struggled to cope with declining revenues and mounting debt woes. Tribune has pared back the newsrooms of many of its papers, and it sold off Newsday to Cablevision’s Dolan family earlier this year.
In a court filing, Tribune said it had nearly $13 billion in debt, compared to $7.6 billion in assets. Most of that debt was taken on when Mr. Zell acquired the company — a deal he struck using mostly borrowed money. All of the now privately held company’s equity is owned by an employee stock-ownership plan.
Meanwhile, headlines about signs of trouble screamed across the DrudgeReport’s top story today. “NEWS IS BROKE: NYT MORTGAGES HQ IN CASH CRUNCH”, read the bright red Drudge headline.
According to the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.
The company has retained Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate firm, to act as its agent to secure financing, either in the form of a mortgage or a sale-leaseback arrangement, said James Follo, the Times Company’s chief financial officer.
Standard & Poor’s recently lowered its credit rating on the Times Company below investment grade, and Moody’s Investors Service has said it was considering a similar move. Times Company stock, which has lost more than half its value this year, closed on Friday at $7.64, down 30 cents.
(Source: NY Times / International Herald Tribune)
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12 Responses
the yated and hamodia will prevail. the times will die and so will their lies
the times is owned and operated by self hating jews. Their bias towards the liberal and anti religous left is legendary. Let them fold – let them goo out of business
#1 and #2 A very real problem is that any news you don’t agree with you call “lies?” I bet you guys preached that Obama is a left wing Jew-hating Muslim too. Nebuch!
Liberal newspapers (LA Times)that withhold important information deserve whatever fate awaits them.
The point that #3 missed is that liberal left leaning media outlets are heavily responsible for the skewed coverage of Israel and provide cover for the US state dept. Arab apologists. It is sad that # 3 lives in wonderland and fails to understand the real damage done by media biased entities like the LA time, NY times and their ilk.
Never is an opportunity missed by these enlightened periodicals to equate Islamic terrorism with Israeli self defense.
Bringing Obama into this conversation is naive. The liberal media has been partially responsible for many of the tragic moves Israel has made
(been forces to do)in the past years including the failed Oslo accords, giving up huge portions of land to the inept murderous PA authority, the evacuation of Gaza etc…
It is not lies #3 -it is your ignorance of fact that is the real Nebuch
Whether or not you agree with the Tribune Co., it is owned by Mr. Zell a jewish guy who gives alot of tzedakah and we don’t need him cutting back his charitable contributions.
BTW, they also own the Chicago Cubs.
i would like everyone to keep in mind that the ny times and the tribune companies through their marketing reporting distribution advertising etc… keep many jewish people employed. whenever a major company is not doing well there is a tremendous trickle down effect I.E. If gm would fail they would take there suppliers marketers dealerships etc.. with them. And as number 5 mentioned about sam zell he is a tremendous giver of tzedaka as are many people affilated with the industry or depend on the industry for business (graphic designers programers marketers etc…) please keep in mind that not everyone that depends on the times and trbune for survival is a leftist liberal There are chas vishalom thousands of people parnassa at stake. Over the last few months thousands of jews in the us and worldwide have lost their jobs we must daven for rachamim.
Let all of them, the NYT, LAT, CT, along with the Washington Post go out of business. And let them take CBSNBCABCNPRPBS with them.
Let all of them, the NYT, LAT, CT, along with the Washington Post go out of business. And let them take CBSNBCABCNPRPBS with them.
Yonason
Wake up! To say that the NY Times is not anti-semetic is to say that you have had your head in the ground for the last 20 years. Their anti-Israel/anti-semetic slant has been well documented over the years.
Rabbosai,
The NY Times is Yonason’s Bible, lehavdil. We’re still working on him… 🙂
What I don’t get is how does a bank lend a company double its assets? The banks are responsible and should suffer the loss.
Mr Zell “bought” the business with no personal costs. He paid nothing out of his pocket, and intelligently finanicially maneuvered it. When it was going well he made millions for himself. Now he just gets to walk away???
I am sick or the daily headlines about another billionaire walking away from his debt and shoving it in the publics face. The two class system in the US is getting ridicoulous.