Patterico's Pontifications

12/8/2008

Tribune Corp Files Bankruptcy (Updated)

Filed under: Dog Trainer — DRJ @ 11:41 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Tribune Corp filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy today in Delaware. It reportedly has 13 billion in debt. The Chicago Cubs franchise and Wrigley Field are not included in the filing.

Kudos to Zell and his advisers for not asking for a bailout but given recent news, I bet they thought about it.

UPDATE: Near the close, the market is up over 300 but the Tribune stock is down today by 94% to around a $1 a share.

— DRJ

36 Responses to “Tribune Corp Files Bankruptcy (Updated)”

  1. They passed by a golen opportunity to generate tens of millions of web hits when they decided not to post the Obama tape. It might have made them huge amounts of money. Creditors should be seriously ticked off.

    MTF (17058c)

  2. The Los Angeles Times….
    Just another spoke in a failed business model.
    From Hubris, will Humility Come?
    LMFAOROTF!

    Another Drew (e451ab)

  3. At one buck a shot, it’s not exactly takeover material. The market has spoken.

    A business model which might work would be a concentration on local news and features. We all go to the net for national/international anway. Skip the propaganda.

    Fox manages to make money; I think a newspaper could too.

    Patricia (94c68d)

  4. I would buy the LAT just to fire certain people…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  5. heh… I can just see myself at the bank trying to get the loan…

    Loan Officer: “So, what is purpose of the loan?”

    Me: “Spite, mostly…”

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  6. It’s Patterico’s fault! That vicious, right-wing neocon Bush-loving Rethuglican caused this to happen, by deceiving the previously happy readers of The Los Angeles Times with his underhanded stories concerning tiny, little errors that very occassionally see print.

    The sarcasm-averse Dana (3e4784)

  7. The Los Angeles Times has failed,
    The stockholders have mostly bailed
    Our host is to blame,
    He should be ashamed,
    And he prob’ly ought to be jailed!

    The Limerick Avenger (3e4784)

  8. STOP THE PRESSES! EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! STOP THE PRESSES. Los Angeles is a sewer with zip codes. Sewers dont need newspapers.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  9. All I can say, is a Nelson Muntz HAH HAH!!!

    John Cunningham (1cb7c8)

  10. Hey DRJ, I see that the parent company of the Dallas Morning-News is up for sale, and their market cap is $41M, which gets you three major papers, plus whatever.
    Any oil guys there in West Tx that want a new hobby?
    Or, is this why GWB is relocating to North Dallas?

    Another Drew (e451ab)

  11. Patricia- News Corp is losing money, hunny. The WSJ is laying off and closing printing plants. Fox News is laying off and its stock is plumetting. If that’s your idea of a good business model, you belong at General Motors– or Tribune.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  12. ROFLMAO — If news was their business, then they would still be in business.

    bill-tb (26027c)

  13. “News Corp is losing money, hunny”

    DCSCA – You would be wrong there sport. For the quarter ended 9/30/08, News Corp showed operating income of $953 million and net income of $515 million. What are you looking at?

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  14. Comment by daleyrocks — 12/8/2008 @ 2:01 pm

    Probably just the usual lint from its’ navel.

    Another Drew (e451ab)

  15. AD – You know how these progs are with numbers and the economy. They fuck up giving you change from a nickel.

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  16. From that News Corp. Fiscal 2009 first quarter ended 9/30/08 report showing Fox is really sucking wind as DCSCA claims:

    “CABLE NETWORK PROGRAMMING

    Cable Network Programming reported first quarter operating income of $379 million, an
    increase of $90 million over the first quarter a year ago. The 31% growth reflects
    increased contributions from Fox News Channel, the Regional Sports Networks (RSNs),
    the Big Ten Network and the Fox International Channels, partially offset by costs
    associated with the development of the Fox Business Network.

    The Fox News Channel (FNC) increased its operating income 27% versus the first
    quarter a year ago primarily from increased affiliate revenues on higher rates and
    advertising revenue growth from higher pricing. During the quarter, viewership at FNC
    was more than 60% greater than its nearest competitor in primetime and more than 55%
    higher on a 24-hour basis, reflecting FNC broadcasting nine of the top ten shows in
    cable news.”

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  17. […] from DRJ on Patterico’s Pontifications, we get the news that The Tribune Corp filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy today in Delaware. Tribune […]

    Common Sense Political Thought » Blog Archive » Eighteenth century technology, part 3 (73d96f)

  18. They LA Times has not found room on the front page for that information but they squeeze in this piece of crap.

    In matters of the heart, women still get short shrift

    When it comes to heart attacks, women are still second-class citizens.

    They are slowly catching up with men, but they are still less likely to receive adequate treatment in the hospital, particularly in the first few hours after a heart attack occurs. As a result, they are still twice as likely as men to die from the most severe form of heart attack, according to a new study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Assn.

    You get down to the article and find the differences are 10 to 25% less use of some treatments. No explanation of why that might be.

    One small item has a lot to do with it but you’d never know.

    And some studies have also shown that women are less likely to recognize the initial stages of a heart attack — or more willing to endure the pain — delaying their decision to seek treatment.

    They come in late so they don’t get the first 90 minute treatment. Who’s fault is that ?

    No wonder these people go bankrupt.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  19. Daily- Wrong. Liars figure and figures lie. Better look at the stock price and see the WSJ projections on plant closings. Better still, look at the ratings. Fox is finished. a national joke.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  20. Daily- and howzabout that Fox Business News Channel…. the world is going digital and it’s available with a UHF antenna. Maybe rabbit ears, too. NewsCorp is a joke.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  21. I see that the parent company of the Dallas Morning-News is up for sale

    AD, are we talking Belo? And do you have a link?

    Dana (79a78b)

  22. daley – DCSCA will not be deterred from its narrative.

    JD (059bab)

  23. Comment by Dana — 12/8/2008 @ 5:01 pm

    Yes, it is Belo, and it was at MM.

    Another Drew (e451ab)

  24. Having fallen from a 52 week high of $53.34 to Friday’s close of $17.99, to today’s close of $1.07, I’m tempted to buy 100 shares of TXA. 🙂

    If I guess wrong, I’ve blown $107; if it recovers, I could see a big profit, quickly.

    The stock market savvy Dana? (556f76)

  25. DCSCA – You’re a joke, cupcake. I refuted your points with the company’s own press releases and now you try to make new points. If you are claiming to have inside information and are releasing it here, I’m sure the SEC will be interested in your comments.

    Hey look over there!

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  26. Chapter 11 will be good for Tribune. The courts will force management to jettison losing properties like the LA Times and perhaps retool the flagship Chicago Tribune; clear deadwood from its broadcast properties and print pubs then reset itself for the 21st Century media landscape. Its the newspapers that are the losers at Tribune, and the LA Times is the worst load they carry. LA is a sprawling collection of small towns and neighborhoods. It cant even support an NFL Team. Metro NY nurtures two. LA is a city with citizens who spend more time in cars than at home with a cuppa hot joe reading the paper. We gets most of our national and local news from radio, television and the web. LA isnt Chicago, either. It’s a city more distant from the centers of national discourse in Washington and New York. Time zones, geography, good weather and the LA state of mind all factor in. The LA Times tried to be a national paper. It’s just not. It’s a regional paper, akin to the San Diego Tribune or the San Francisco Chronicle. A buyer for the LA Times should cut staff 33%, close down the Orange County offices; slash ad rates by 30% and create special packages; cut sections down to four for print; cultivate new generations of readers, if its not too late, by working with schools across the marketplace; position itself as a major online metro paper with radio and TV synergy and a support print edition.

    Or invent the electronic newspaper using that thin, soon to be cheap, flexible, Saran Wrap-styled LCD material they are perfecting in Asia and use cell towers to transmit news to a disposable paper. Sort of a laptop screen withoit the laptop guts. Seem far-fetch? So was moveable type 500 years ago.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  27. Daley- ROFLMAOPIP Using News Corp data to substantiate News Corp. Next you’ll tell me its fair and balanced.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  28. Because we all know the way to best analyze News Corp’s financials is to look at Honda’s financials. Good Allah, teh stoopid, it should be painful.

    JD (059bab)

  29. DCSCA, you have had way too much coffee today.

    Patricia (ee5c9d)

  30. Patricia- A cuppa fresh coffee is cheaper than a copy of the Los Angeles Times with yesterday’s news.

    DCSCA (d8da01)

  31. […] Chapter 11: Market’s up, Tribune stock’s down, kudos for not asking for a bailout. Commenter snarks: LAT could have made buku bucks with that Obama tape.   […]

    Jules Crittenden » T.P. (98837e)

  32. As a general matter, the papers who propagandize for the left are losing readers and money, and will soon die.

    It really is a simple proposition. If the news business was trying to make money these papers would be very different looking, and they would be profitable. The market will make that happen, and the Sulzbergers et al will finally be forced to work for a living, as they should. It’ll be good for them, and great for the country.

    “Journalism” is dead! Long live the free press.

    MTF (8254eb)

  33. In what universe are the papers not making money?

    The universe of people who pay too damn much for property. But, if one examines the financials, one finds margins that are at least double those of, say Big Oil, absent outrageous debt loads unrelated to capital improvements.

    Papers still make cash against operating expenses. Yes, over time, the margins are shrinking, and may disappear altogether. Yet, for now, the LAT and the CTrib make a tidy profit, against ongoing expenses excluding debt.

    It’s a matter of fools overpaying for ownership.

    Ed (957a32)

  34. If the NYT is so profitable, why did they have to take a 2nd on their Manhattan property to meet operating expenses?

    Another Drew (dd7bc2)

  35. According to the Bloomberg site, the NYT earned 70 cents/share the past 12 months, and is expected to end the calendar year with 74 cents/share earnings. There are 143 million, give or take, outstanding shares. So, by my math, the NYT will have a profit this year of approx. $106 million, despite a long-term debt load of $673 million.

    This Bloomberg article gives some explanations about the debt, and points out that the NYT is not planning on missing their dividend.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aUVgllWTVFzs&refer=us

    It is the debt that is truly killing the papers to day. With prudent earlier ownership/management, they would not be in near the predicament they are now.

    Ed (957a32)


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