Anybody wanna help TKC buy a newspaper??? I'm searching through my pants for a few nickles to make a purchase . . . Haven't found much yet but there's A LOT of room in there . . . Meanwhile, bankruptcy could give lenders some control over newspapers just in time for the election cycle.
Meanwhile, don't overestimate the "opportunity" here . . . Rich people are rich because they don't invest in dying businesses.
Here's the news tease excerpt with a special thanks to KICK-ASS TKC READERS who keep our community up to date on this ongoing hot mess that all of the other local MSM outlets are politely ignoring . . .
The McClatchy Co. . . . could file for bankruptcy within the next year, according to analysts.
The company faces a mandatory $124 million contribution to its pension plan in 2020.
“If they can’t offload the pensions or get pension plan relief, they’ll have to file for bankruptcy,” said media analyst Craig Huber, founder of Huber Research Partners LLC, who has followed the company since 1995. In an interview, Huber estimated McClatchy would have free cash flow of less than $20 million next year, a fraction of what it needs to cover its pension obligations.
A representative for the company declined to comment. In its third-quarter earnings release last week, McClatchy said the pension contribution created “a significant liquidity challenge in 2020.” It also warned in regulatory documents that it may not be able to continue as a going concern.
Further reading:
Bloomberg: Newspaper Publisher McClatchy Teeters Near Bankruptcy
Poynter: McClatchy stock crashed after company warned of pension funding crisis
Developing . . .
Let.
ReplyDeleteThem.
Burn.
Don't worry, the Star will become a non profit so developers can contribute funds to it and get a charitable deduction.
ReplyDeleteThe Key executives will be fine. Everyone else well that is another story for a future date.
ReplyDeleteActually, there is more logic to a government bailout of an information distributor than there was for the two Automobile Manufacturers, but McClatchy is unfortunate in finding itself on the wrong side of the Political Payoff Potlatch at this point in time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone like Hearst will scoop up the Star at fire-sale prices, can all the current staff, and re-build something from the wreckage. Then again, maybe not, Kansas City is an unlikely candidate for viability as a functioning community, too many disparate political and economic interests pulling it apart.
But what about my cage liners?
ReplyDeleteYou can always switch over to The Pitch, but I'd be concerned about it turning your bird into a bi-curious hipster.
DeleteBring back Hoops, Diuguid, and Sanchez!
ReplyDeleteOnly they can save the day!
Hahahahaha!!
jimmysays, "Hoops" and DoNOGood will be applying for work at TKC in the near future.
ReplyDeleteTKC's HR Department plays it pretty fast and loose, so those "Water Cooler" conversations are far more honest and hilarious than the #Metoo pretense around the K.C.Star's water coolers where everyone pretends to love Lindsey Pelas for her "mind".
Cause, you know, when Michelle gets in the "race", everyone will vote for her because she is so smart.
https://www.newsweek.com/dinesh-dsouza-michelle-obama-michelle-obama-degree-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-1261240
Don't look at me, I was pulling for Carly Fiorina.
You could call it The Botello Banner.
ReplyDeleteYour motto: "All the lies that fit, we print"
Well, if our local media was anything but a set of cheerleaders for the local corruption, you might have a point.
Delete8:06 Better - "Democracy is dead, hear about it here."
ReplyDeleteThe K.C. Star's motto?
ReplyDelete"Agitprop From Apparatchiks For Activists".
The result?
WOKE GOES BROKE
Democracy dies without these dorks?
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, KC is $700-million behind on it's pensions payments. 124..is nothing.
ReplyDelete"Anybody wanna help TKC buy a newspaper??? I'm searching through my pants for a few nickles to make a purchase . . . "
ReplyDeleteIt's funny and somewhat satisfying to see an old prediction come true!
Several years back, when The Falling Star was taking an axe to their staff and it was clearly evident that their days were numbered, I predicted in this comment space that Tony would end up buying the bankrupt Star for ONE DOLLAR.
Not that it would be worth a buck, but to settle a point. People who can't adopt to change, who cling to the ways they've always done things, who think their opinion is worth publishing, all while running their business into the ground, will be left in the dustbin of history.
TKC - 1
KC Star - 0
"Rich people are rich because they don't invest in dying businesses." To the contrary, some rich people get even richer by buying controlling shares in dying businesses and turning them into profitable businesses. Bain Capital, among others. Not that it would work with the Star.
ReplyDelete^^^ The Europeans called groups like Dain Capital "Asset Strippers" and outlawed them in the late 1970s, but they found a new home here under Ronald Reagan's Administration, combining with a routine GOP Tax Cut on the Wealthy to bring about the 1987 Depress... uhhh "Recession!
ReplyDeleteMitt Romney and his "merry men" at Dain were even able to destroy a moneymaker like Toys-R-Us by saddling it with an unbearable level of debt through one of the "Leveraged Buyouts" that Ronnie authorized through an Executive Order. Prior to Regan's chicanery, you had to borrow on YOUR OWN ASSETS in order to buy another Company, but under "Voodoo Economics", all hat it took was a friendly Banker, and you could borrow any amount he would lend you, using the assets of the Company you were trying to take over.
We saw that happen locally with the destruction of Marion Labs, and are probably going to see it in=again with Cerner.
^^^ Sorry, "Bain" Capital, got it mixed up with "The Dain Curse", I guess.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget what happened to DST!
ReplyDeletePlease give a short history if you can.
Tony, save some money and don't buy the KCS, just hire the editorial board. They can't cost that much.
ReplyDelete10:14 comment
ReplyDeleteDon't look now, but a new entrant into the crowded Democratic Party field of candidates is former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
Where did he previously work? Bain Capital!
After bashing Romney, how will Democrats explain this?
Deval Patrick and Barack Obama were in the same class of Manchurian Candidates being groomed by the Intelligence Services for use as political puppets. Look at their amazing similar backgrounds and try to explain it.