Just a little more than 2 years after a group of Philadelphia-area investors bought the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News from McClatchy for $562 million, they’re filing for bankruptcy.
Philly.com reports that CEO Brian P. Tierney assures the Chapter 11 filing is “focused solely” on the company’s debt and will not interrupt daily operations.
Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com turned to bankruptcy court after negotiating with its lenders for the last 11 months and accumulating $13.4 million in penalty interest and fees during that period of time.
One tidbit of news that came out of the filing: Tierney had given himself a 38% raise – that’s $232,000 bucks. Well… he’s giving that money back and will return to his “modest” salary of $618,000. The Philly papers have a debt estimated at $300 million, but a current estimated value of $180 million.
According to a Bloomerg story, the biggest financial losers in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s bankruptcy filing will be its owners and unsecured creditors.