Minneapolis Star Tribune Files Chapter 11
[Guest post by DRJ]
Another newspaper bites the dust files bankruptcy:
“In its filing, the newspaper listed assets of $493.2 million and liabilities of $661.1 million. The company said it hopes to use bankruptcy to restructure its debt and lower its labor costs.
Like most newspapers, the Star Tribune has experienced a sharp decline in print advertising. Its earnings before interest, taxes and debt payments was about $26 million in 2008, down from about $59 million in 2007 and about $115 million in 2004.”
The Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, filed Chapter 11 last month.
– DRJ
Powerline has been predicting this forever…
Comment by Patricia — 1/15/2009 @ 7:35 pm
Women and Minorities Hit Hardest.
Comment by Official Internet Data Office — 1/15/2009 @ 7:44 pm
Another bastion of liberal tripe, dead.
Neidermeyer…dead
Star-Trib…..dead
LA Times…….
Comment by the bhead — 1/15/2009 @ 7:49 pm
The death of the MSM – one paper at a time.
Comment by fmfnavydoc — 1/15/2009 @ 7:52 pm
Aren’t these the clowns that helped AlfuckingFranken get a seat in the US Senate?!
Sounds like a party is in order. They can be the first ones that we give to Canada.
Comment by JD — 1/15/2009 @ 8:06 pm
“They can be the first ones that we give to Canada.”
You Yanks can keep your deadbeat leftist hosers, we took enough during Vietnam, they breed ya know. Like rats.
Comment by Fred Z — 1/15/2009 @ 8:23 pm
I am so happy.
Comment by Da'Shiznit — 1/15/2009 @ 8:56 pm
Demonstration of typical StarTribune competence: filing on Thursday night, not Friday at close of business. Must have been panicked by someone else.
Comment by htom — 1/15/2009 @ 9:21 pm
It’s not dead. It’s just stunned.
Comment by navyvet — 1/15/2009 @ 9:55 pm
You can see Canada from Minnesota, eh?
Comment by Charlie — 1/15/2009 @ 10:01 pm
…and his is a paper that has changed hands twice in the recent past, most recently at one-half of what it was purchased for; and now it is worth zero, zip, zilch, nada, bupkis.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch (James Likus excepted).
Comment by AD — 1/15/2009 @ 10:05 pm
“Aren’t these the clowns that helped AlfuckingFranken get a seat in the US Senate?!”
Surpisingly, the oped page endorsed Coleman.
Comment by SalBass — 1/15/2009 @ 10:43 pm
How were they able to accumulate liabilities of $661.1 million? Precisely who do they owe? I don’t know about this sort of thing so I’m looking to be educated. I don’t expect that I’ll have much sympathy for those who they are in debt to, but I expect I’ll somehow be bailing them out on the Strib’s behalf.
Comment by j curtis — 1/15/2009 @ 11:52 pm
Couldn’t happen to a better bunch, except for the NYT and LAT. And yeah, credit has to go to Powerline.
Comment by Peg C. — 1/16/2009 @ 3:03 am
Ding dong the rag is dead, the wicked rag, the wicked rag is dead! Ding dong the rag is dead, the commie rag, the commie rag is dead! Oh, this is “GREAT” a la Flounder in “Animal House.” Can’t wait to see the New York Slimes, and the L.A. Slimes and the Chicago tribune all get what they so richly deserve, pink slips for everyone. Liberal commie hacks! I am so fg happy! Today is a great day!
Comment by J. Raymond Wright — 1/16/2009 @ 7:27 am
#12 — Beware of taking the official op-ed page as an indication of a newspaper’s editorial position.
The real opinions and endorsements appear on the pages labelled “news”.
Comment by Evil Pundit — 1/16/2009 @ 1:44 pm
As a business model, how can they expect to succeed when they alienate about half their potential customers? It would seem to me if they at least tried to be fair, they might have a chance.
Comment by Mark_0454 — 1/16/2009 @ 1:45 pm
McClatchey bought the paper in ‘98 for $1.2B!
They sold it to a private investment group in ‘07 for $530M!
McClatchey took a $670M bath, and the current owners will do likewise.
I’m sure that a major part of their liabilities are the debts they took in financing the purchase in ‘07,
just like with Zell and the Tribune Cos.
Comment by AD — 1/16/2009 @ 2:35 pm