And *Bam*
The Tribune Company has filed for bankruptcy. The parent company for the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune is filing Chapter 11 in Delaware, where the company is incorporated.
Tribune’s debt has become more burdensome over the last six months as advertising revenue at its eight daily newspapers and 23 television stations has fallen sharply. Industry projections are for further declines over the next six months to a year.
The company said it plans to file in Delaware, where it is incorporated.
“The focus of the filing today is 100% on relieving the pressure on the company from its debt,” Zell said in the interview with reporters from Tribune newspapers. “By virtue of the filing today we will suspend making interest payments, which should give us added flexibility in order to continue moving forward.”
Yet, while they are talking about many creditors getting hosed with paybacks of much less than what is owed – and some getting nothing – they are also saying that they may acquire other newspapers while undergoing this bankruptcy.
Anyone else see a problem with this?
The Tribune Company owns the Chicago Cubs – which has been valued at something like one billion dollars. And that team has been excluded from the bankruptcy.
Again, anyone else see a problem here?
Presumably, some of the creditors who are going to get the shaft are those same banks who have been bailed out at taxpayer expense. And the Tribune Company is sheltering an asset that appears to be able to pay off a large portion of what is owed.
I think we have a problem here. What do you think?
By feeblemind, December 8, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
I am not competent to comment on the legal maneuvering, but bitter experience has taught me that bankruptcy is a license to steal.
By Americaneocon, December 8, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
Big problems. Citibank was still doing corporate stadium sponsorships after all the bailout buzz. Who knows what’s up. Everyone’s on the dole nowadays.
By Hrothgar, December 8, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Welcome to the world of creative economics. It sure would be nice to have some insight into the Cayman bank deposits these days, but this one looks like the financial class don’t even have to move their money offshore to screw over their investors.
By Rich Horton, December 9, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Hmmm…the Chicago Cubs….asset or liability?
(So says Rich as he wears his St. louis Cardinals 2006 World Series Championship cap.)
By Sam, December 10, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
Gaius, Rich,
As the newspapers gradually fail or shrink or reorganize or whatever – they are creating a vacuum in news coverage that will need to be filled somehow. Sounds like an opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of.
By Rich Horton, December 10, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
Sam, I am willing to be bought….but, man, do I have a high price tag.
Actually, I would love to live in a city that had a newspaper culture like you can find in London. (New York used to have that…but I’m not so sure anymore. Any Big Apple people around to give their take?)
The trouble with newspaper cultures is they demand leisure time to read, and where do we find that in contemporary American life? I’m a college professor and I have difficulty finding time to read the four publications I suscribe to. (One of them, the “City Journal”, is only a quarterly to boot.)
In that way blogs are indeed great. You can read as much as you want in the free moments you happen upon in the course of the day. Not to mention the interactive component of leaving messages, or responding to other people comments. In some ways it could be argued that blogs are a poor substitute for the ideal.
And what is the ideal?
Imagine you lived in a place where the pace of life allowed for the reading of two morning newspapers and two evening papers as well. Imagine as well people routinely spent afternoons or evenings in cafes or pubs where the events of the day were discussed between friends and aquaintences who also ahd the time to read the papers. As an avenue towards civic virtue and civic responsibility I’m not sure such a vision could be beat.
But our life simply doesn’t make such an existence likely. You may get part of that, but never the whole package.
So, we are left with these blogs….and that is not a bad thing. Still, I’d rather have all these discussions over a beer or two.