Now Philly's bankrupt

[CatchMeUp]

Union just sent this out...



Dear Guild Member,



As you all should be aware, Philadelphia Media Holdings, (“PMH”), the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News, has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.



As hard as it may sound, please stay calm. The company is still in business, the papers are still publishing and you should still report for work.



Here is what this means to our members and how the filing affects our contract:



The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy process is intended to permit a company to continue in operation by restructuring its contractual and financial obligations. Because Guild members provide essential services, your wages and benefits under our collective bargaining agreement for services rendered, after the petition was filed, will continue to be honored.



Before PMH can take any action to modify any of its obligations under our contract, it must negotiate in good faith with the Guild and prove that the contract changes it seeks are necessary to permit the reorganization and prevent the liquidation of the enterprise.



The Guild Executive Board has already taken steps to assure that we obtain all of the bankruptcy filings. We will monitor the proceedings and take appropriate action to enforce our collective bargaining agreement and protect your rights.



Even though a bankruptcy petition has been filed:



* Our contract remains in full force;
* Your wages and benefits will continue to be paid;
* We retain the right to grieve and arbitrate contract disputes; and
* No unilateral changes to our contract can be implemented without prior negotiations.



If the Employer requests that we meet to negotiate contract modifications, we will, of course, immediately notify you of any such negotiations. As in all collective bargaining situations, we will bring any tentative agreements involving modifications/changes to our contract to the members for ratification. In addition, we will keep you advised of all developments during the bankruptcy, especially any events that involve the Guild contact, your rights, and the Employer’s obligations pursuant to it.

 

[Write-brained]

Phuck.

 

[slappy4428]

Not good

 

[CatchMeUp]

on the philly.com site, story quotes the owner as saying they're profitable.

here's the lede:

Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, filed for bankruptcy protection today in a bid to restructure its $390 million in debt load.

The company, bought by a group of Philadelphia-area investors for $562 million in 2006, said the voluntary Chapter 11 filing would not interrupt its daily operations.

"This restructuring is focused solely on our debt, not our operations," chief executive officer Brian P. Tierney, who led the group that provided about $150 million of the purchase price three years ago, said in a news release.

for the rest, http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090222_Inquirer_owner_files_for_bankruptcy.html

"Our operations are sound and profitable," said Tierney, referring to operating profits before interest and certain other costs.

 

[Angola!]

Does being profitable matter when you owe $390 million?

 

[Write-brained]

Does being profitable matter when you owe $390 million?

shhh, don't worry about that Gola. By the way, will you loan me a $1 million? I'll pay you back at a rate of 10 cents a day.

 

[podunk press]

I especially loved this line: "As hard as it may sound, please stay calm. The company is still in business, the papers are still publishing and you should still report for work."

I don't think journalists were reading this at work, then throwing their monitors across the room and looting from the supply closet.

 

[steveu]

Remain calm! All is well!!

I couldn't help it, that Kevin Bacon reference just snapped into my head.

 

[DanOregon]

 

[Ben_Hecht]

on the philly.com site, story quotes the owner as saying they're profitable.

here's the lede:

Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, filed for bankruptcy protection today in a bid to restructure its $390 million in debt load.

The company, bought by a group of Philadelphia-area investors for $562 million in 2006, said the voluntary Chapter 11 filing would not interrupt its daily operations.

"This restructuring is focused solely on our debt, not our operations," chief executive officer Brian P. Tierney, who led the group that provided about $150 million of the purchase price three years ago, said in a news release.

for the rest, http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090222_Inquirer_owner_files_for_bankruptcy.html

"Our operations are sound and profitable," said Tierney, referring to operating profits before interest and certain other costs.

Yeah, you barged in to buy the thing, and now you want relief -- from guess who?

F off, Tierney, you fat load.

 

[Mediator]

Conventional wisdom the last few years has been, debt isn't a bad thing. That's why corporate types bought up newspapers and leveraged them to the gills.

Time to reconsider that, geniuses.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Conventional wisdom the last few years has been, debt isn't a bad thing. That's why corporate types bought up newspapers and leveraged them to the gills.

Time to reconsider that, geniuses.

The great escape clause in leveraged buyouts of the past quarter-century has always been: if things don't work out, flush the workforce.

Working great. Middle class destroyed, no one left to buy consumer goods at the volume at which business has become accustomed, economy craters . . . way to go.

 

[Drip]

All is not well in the City of Brotherly Love. I have never seen a company yet that says it is "sound and profitable" file for bankruptcy.
That Phillies beat job at the Inky? It will be interesting to see how that is handled.
The future of the Daily News? Not very good.
As if that wasn't bad enough, The Journal Register company also went Chapter 11 over the weekend. The company specializes in suburban newspapers in this region, including the Norristown Times Herald, Delaware County Daily Times, Trentonian, Pottstown Mercury, the West Chester Daily Local News, and the Lansdale Reporter.
Not a good time to be a journalist in the Delaware Valley.

 

[MileHigh]

Throw in Tribune's bankruptcy and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. MediaNews? Lee?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Throw in Tribune's bankruptcy and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. MediaNews? Lee?

Lee will beat MediaNews to the finish line, I think.

 

[Drip]

Throw in Tribune's bankruptcy and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. MediaNews? Lee?

The NY Post or the NY Daily News. Take your pick. Both have been living on borrowed time.

 

[I Should Coco]

Throw in Tribune's bankruptcy and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. MediaNews? Lee?

Lee will beat MediaNews to the finish line, I think.

I agree -- Lee "wins" this race going away.

Always have wondered how people like Mary Junck, Lee's CEO, keep their job. Can't the stockholders, in between getting ****-faced and calling the escort service while attending the annual meeting, vote her out? It's like, hmmm., someone decided to buy this economic lemon known as the Post-Dispatch, it's totally ****ed up the entire company ... oh yeah, let's keep her as CEO. And here's your bonus, Mary!

Too many good people work at Lee papers to have a piece of Junck controlling their future in the business.

OK, rant over.

 

[beardpuller]

So far, Chapter 11 means very little to us worker bees in Philadelphia, at the Inquirer OR the Daily News.
The biggest question might be whether the current owners ultimately maintain control, and what happens if they don't. I have no idea, and I don't think anybody else on this thread does, either.

 

[FileNotFound]

Throw in Tribune's bankruptcy and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. MediaNews? Lee?

The NY Post or the NY Daily News. Take your pick. Both have been living on borrowed time.

McClatchy?

 

[Johnny_Killroy]

So anyone want to take bets on how long it takes the DN to fold?