......going down....


'Miami Herald,' 'Kansas City Star' Publisher McClatchy Files For Bankruptcy

....The long slide in the U.S. newspaper industry took another dramatic turn Thursday.

McClatchy Co., which operates the Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star among its 30 newsrooms in 14 states, announced it has filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Saddled with debt and pension obligations, McClatchy said it will continue to operate as normal during the process.

The company said it plans to emerge from bankruptcy in the next few months.

"McClatchy remains a strong operating company with an enduring commitment to independent journalism that spans five generations of my family,'' said Kevin McClatchy, the company's chairman great-great grandson of its founder, James McClatchy.

"This restructuring is a necessary and positive step forward for the business, and the entire Board of Directors has made great efforts to ensure the company is able to operate as usual throughout this process," Kevin McClatchy added in a statement.

The company said it's negotiating with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal insurer of private pension plans, and its largest creditor "to address the future of our pension obligations and capital structure." The company said it expects that the PBGC will take over McClatchy's qualified pension plan.

McClatchy bought the Knight Ridder newspaper chain — which included the Miami Herald, the San Jose Mercury News and The Philadelphia Inquirer, in 2006. It later sold off several of the Knight Ridder papers.

A big investor declared Wednesday that newspapers are "all dying," Bloomberg reported.

Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said "technological change is destroying the daily newspapers in America. The revenue goes away and the expenses remain and they're all dying." Munger did say that The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are likely to keep going.

Munger was speaking in Los Angeles at the annual meeting of the Daily Journal Corp., where he is chairman.


much more...........to come.......?!

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

In my estimation, one of the finest outfits in journalism.

blaming pension responsibilities and not the debt used to put together this mega-publisher.

many of their newspapers do good work.

but corporate masters are not so thoughtful.

plenty of major money was rewarded during the shenanigans which took place to build this straw empire.

and though these mergers are all in recent memory, they are now blaming pensions and a downturn in print revenues.

not a word about the corporate debt which is at the core of the bankruptcy.

shameless.

rob

Why would they feel shame? A corporation isn't a person.

Today: "We'll gladly pay your pension tomorrow for work done today"
Tomorrow: "sry, bankrupt lol!

McClatchy is one of the great journalism brands - still run by the family that founded it in the 1800's - and they'll be fine. They are talking about taking the company private again and those rumors are usually good for stock prices (as with Nordstrom.) The company has endured years of declining revenues, like nearly all newspapers. Not surprised that the debt would pile up, their largest creditor is the pension company.

Look forward to more excellent reporting from the folks at McClatchy papers.

That was once my local newspaper publishing company before they decided to go on a buying binge. Buying Knight-Ridder was insane. As I recall, they continued to buy up more smaller operations too. All of them struggling. Why? It never made sense.

......Warren Buffet just sold his newspaper holdings recently.......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I think that a lot of pension funds were pressured into being overly optimistic about how much their investments would return in the future. Contributing factors included pensioners demanding higher payouts, political expediency, poor/unprofessional management, and good old greed.

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Where is there dignity unless there is also honesty? - Cicero

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. —Wendy Mass

A bird in the hand (higher current wages and compensation) is better than a pension plan. Union leaders made a deal with the devil with respect to promises of wonderful pension plans. Even if all concerned are honest and have the best interest of the workers in mind, things still happen that are out of your control, such as economic downturns, and competition.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2020 01:52PM by freeradical.

So it's the union's fault! Got it!