The End of the Media

The Star Tribune files for Chapter 11 — as reported by The Star Tribune:

The Star Tribune, saddled with high debt and a sharp decline in print advertising, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition Thursday night.
Minnesota’s largest newspaper will try to use bankruptcy to restructure its debt and lower its labor costs.
Chris Harte, the paper’s publisher, said the filing would have no impact on home delivery, advertising, newsgathering or any other aspects of the paper’s operations.
“We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to make this great Twin Cities institution stronger, leaner and more efficient so that it is well positioned to benefit when economic conditions begin to improve,” Harte said in a statement.
The filing, which was made with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the southern district of New York, had been expected for months. It follows several missed payments to the paper’s lenders, and it comes less than two years after a private equity group, New York-based Avista Capital Partners, bought the paper for $530 million.

These companies are in free fall.

Posted by on January 16th, 2009 at 11:18 am


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