Affiliated Publications Inc. of Denver had said it planned to file its petition in the near future. The so-called prepackaged Chapter 11 filing means Affiliated got agreement from most creditors in advance, speeding the company's path through court. (Perhaps it's a coincidence, but today's filing and last week's advisory came on Fridays -- the perfect point in the news cycle to bury bad news.)MediaNews Group is Gannett's minority partner in the Detroit Media Partnership joint operating agency, which publishes the Gannett-owned Detroit Free Press, and MediaNews' Detroit News. GCI and MediaNews also are partners in small groups of newspapers in northern California and in Texas.
Although stockholders are wiped out in Affiliated's plan, CEO William Singleton (left) unexpectedly stays in control. How is that possible? Blogger Alan Mutter compares the CEO to motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, who kept getting up after being knocked flat on his face. "Why would the creditors keep the guy who lost all that money?" Mutter asks, then answers his own question: "Because he is the best chance they have of extricating any value from the business."Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Just wondering. When will Gannett go into bankrupcy?
ReplyDeleteThe most amazing thing about the MediaNews-related bankruptcy is agreeing to give Bank of America an 89 percent stake in the holding company in exchange for eliminating most of its debt. I know Singleton has a reputation for being cheap, but getting in bed with the bean counters might redefine "lean and mean."
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