The Chapter 11 filing included a reorganization of the company's board. Dean Singleton and Jody Lodovic will continue to run MediaNews, while the banks and lenders took a bigger chunk of the ownership. As Editor & Publisher reports:
Secured lenders exchanged their debt for an 89% stake in the company, but Chairman William Dean Singleton remains in control of the chain with the power to appoint four of the seven directors.Whether the reorganization plan affects newspaper operations over the long term remains to be seen. Bank of America and the other major creditors probably won't be very patient about seeing returns on their investment after forgiving so much debt.
MediaNews is the second largest newspaper publisher in the country. Holdings include the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which publishes the Daily News, Daily Breeze, Pasadena Star-News and six other dailies.
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16 comments:
This guy has more lives than Lazarus, Dracula and Montgomery Burns.
interesting. now what?
Now what? Continued poorly run newspapers with revenue disappearing faster than Enron accountants at a math class. Who in their right mind thinks that newspapers in mass will survive? Especially these talentless dweebs who show a total lack of class and a dismal record of innovation.
Now it's time to buckle down. 89% outside ownership means they will want returns on the massive forgiven debt and they will want it ASAP. My prediction: Papers will be closed and/or sold mealpiece by the end of 2010 in order to give the investors returns they want. But first, watch out for more cuts as the bottom line is magically made to show black without any real increase in revenue. Singleton is just using up his 9 lives much faster now and will run out soon. LA Daily News will most likely be one of the first ones to go due to its poor showing in the books over and over again. And those left at the SGVN will be made to work harder (if there is such a thing) so that the revenues keep up with Singleton's massive appetite for cash flow.
no no no. the DN publisher has assured the folks who work there that there will be no more layoffs.
SGVN needs to spend money on a better working conditions. word on the street is they have rats in the newsroom. REAL live rats. one scurried across someone's desk the other day. and now we were told that we have some type of dress code.
I'd bet Singleton tries to get ahold of or run the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Belo wants out, it's at the bottom of the market, and there's still plenty to rip, strip and burn there to turn it into the kind of trash Singleton runs.
Rats in the newsroom...take a look at the executives in the organization. As many others have mentioned, Singleton won't miss a meal, but, the misery he will continue to cause countless of others will not end. The newspaper business as he knows it is done. He cannot compete online so his options are most limited. There isn't a newsroom left at any of his newspapers with enough staff to cover anything local. His revenue guru's are without a clue. As far as no layoffs...don't bet on it. Tiger Woods has a better chance of winning husband of the year.
Lots of emotion in the comments but not too many facts. The fact is that Media News has reduced their debt to such a point that they will be very profitable. For Singleton to reduce that much debt but still run the show is amazing. It doesn't matter if you like him or not, but this was brilliant. He'll be doing fine for a very long time.
8:24 is right, though whether MNG intends to remain in business or whether this is a canny exit remains to be seen. The tactics are brilliant, if the strategy is still concealed. The refinancing of the company is astonishing. Imagine eliminating whatever huge percentage of your household debt and being left in charge of your affairs by your creditors - and, being left in possession of whatever equity remains. In fact, new equity was created. MNG mastered this game decades ago and continues to write the rules. The disposition of underperforming assets is a question mark. Cheap shots about rats and such ... no use.
9:36 very true. He has been planning this since before he sponsored the $1.8 million DNC party and endorsed Obama. He knew he would be going bankrupt so he buttered up his new boss.
Sly like a fox
disagree folks...he owns eleven percent. the banks own the rest and will want to be paid. unless he is printin money, and the facts dispute that, he has just bought time. as stated several times by others he will remain rich, but he failed as an owner. the man in the glass is pantless.
Without all that debt MN will be very profitable. Singleton controls the board, which is very important. MN will do very well in the future. The employees may hate it and it may not produce much of value, but as a business it will do just fine. That's all the banks care about.
What solar system are you on? Exactly where will medianews do well? Classified, online, local retail, national? They are all dying in print and most newspapers, especially singleton's won't do well on the web either. Where does your faith come from? Clearly not from experience nor taking a look at their revenue. All singleton has done is sell 89 percent of the company to creditors. They will want their money. You must share with others the sales plan you are dreaming of.
3:42, I for one am not convinced that MN can be profitable. I do not see where the revenue comes from in the future. They are not going to win on the web and their content, if you want to call it that is worthless. The traditional advertising and circulation model is in the tar pits. Please tell us where this profitability will come from. Just because a large debt is transferred off the books does not improve the future revenue prospects. Don't see it working for them.
There are two basic business models.
1- buy a business invest in it make a profit
2- buy a company go bankrupt, break it down and sell it as scraps for profit.
Guess what he Singleton is doing ?
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