The Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, as well as the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Cubs, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
This comes from The New York Times as well as The Chicago Tribune and is developing.
From the Tribune:
Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in Delaware so it can restructure its debt.
The Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, which Tribune Co. has on the auction block, are not part of the filing. The company said it has sufficient cash to continue to operate its media businesses, including publishing its newspapers and running its television stations and interactive properties, without interruption.
Here's some info about the Tribune Company:
The Tribune Company owns 23 TV stations and 12 newspapers, including two of the eight largest in the country by circulation. As of Sept. 30, The Los Angeles Times had weekday circulation of 739,000 and the Chicago Tribune had 542,000.
This is definitely one of the biggest media companies to fail in recent times, and it looks like this may only be the beginning.
It is only the latest — and biggest — sign of duress for the newspaper industry yet. Several newspaper companies have struggled to cope with declining revenues and mounting debt woes. Tribune has pared back the newsrooms of many of its papers, and it sold off Newsday to Cablevision’s Dolan family earlier this year. It is unclear what Tribune’s filing means for other newspaper publishers on the brink.
We've been seeing the signs for a long time to come, and we may see more newspaper companies continue to fail. It's not immediately clear yet what impact this will have on the newspapers held by the Tribune Co.
However, at least in the short term, apparently the company has enough to continue its operating budget.
Tribune said in a statement that it has enough cash to keep operating as usual. Barclays, one of its existing lenders, agreed to amend an existing $300 million financing facility, as well as to provide a $50 million letter of credit. The latter is part of an overall debtor-in-possession financing package, which is usually extended to companies that file for bankruptcy. More details of the DIP financing could not be learned.
More as it comes...