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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Update on the Brown Publishing Bankruptcy


The intrigue surrounding Brown Publishing gets more and more debacle-lized (this word is not in the dictionary, but it sounds good) as more details reach us common folk.

This update from the Mansfield News Journal by Thomas Palmer (no good link for this writer):

Uncertainty remains the only constant as the Brown Publishing bankruptcy continues to unfold.

In July, a bankruptcy court declared an insider's group, Brown Media, the successful bidder for all but three of the chain's newspapers. However, documents filed with the bankruptcy court in August revealed the group was unable to complete its purchase when its lender withdrew. The same paperwork reported debtors were negotiating to sell the remaining operations to financial giant PNC, the second-highest bidder, on or before Sept. 2.

On Thursday, Editor & Publisher reported a sale to PNC was imminent. On the same day, a source at Brown Publishing said employees were informed the sale has been finalized and there would be a new owner for the chain's remaining properties.

On Friday, the court issued an order approving the sale of assets to Ohio Community Media, a company owned by six financial institutions, including PNC. A separate sale approved at the same time means that Dan's Papers, the largest newspaper in the lucrative Hamptons area of Long Island, was not included in the Brown-Ohio Community Media agreement. The new owner's name replaced that of Brown Publishing on the chain's local news websites Friday, and a possible new corporate website appeared at http://www.ohiocommunitymedia.com/.

Read more http://alturl.com/wnp2o

4 comments:

Frances Jeanne said...

Why do reports re Newpapers' Bankruptcy surge remind me of Chicken Little's "The Sky is Falling" chant? Change must occur due to new knowledge, experience, and realization that there is need for a superior method of accomplishing the same goals. Since there is nothing new under the sun, we humans are forced to create from knowns by juxtaposition of the "old" knowns into "new" configurations. Reminds me somewhat of the fascinating Kaleidascope effect. Bankruptcy is not necessarily the end of the line, but can become the seedbed of creative innovation. Of course, to me the saddest thing about a depressed person or society is that any chance of creating alternative solutions is in inverse proportion to the degree of negativity digested and regurgitated.

My! How I do go on!!!

Unknown said...

Jeanne,

The post wasn't about bankruptcy, newspapers or even rebirth of an industry by any kind of juxtaposition per se, it was pointing out the probably crooked methodology of a company takeover; in this case a publishing company...since that's what I write about.

However, I respectfully disagree with your comment "Since there is nothing new under the sun, we humans are forced to create from knowns by juxtaposition of the "old" knowns into "new" configurations."

I feel there is, indeed, new science and discoveries under the sun...we just haven't found them out...and never will find them all out in our individual lifetimes on this planet...

Frances Jeanne said...

HEY, JOHN, I KNEW THE ARTICLE WAS NOT ABOUT BANKRUPTCY PER SE. I HAD ALREADY RESPONDED TO YOUR PRIOR BLOG RE THE DIRTY DOGS WHO WERE PROSPERING OVER BROWN'S DOWNFALL. BUT COULD NOT HELP BEING REMINDED OF THE DEVASTATION, BUT ALSO THE RISING FROM THE ASHES OF THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE THE AGONY BANKRUPTCY BRINGS. SORRY I PHILOSOPHIZED ….

Unknown said...

Don't be sorry!...If anything I say makes anyone think just a little then it's a good thing, no?

Like you say, we have puny lifetimes and most of us have puny brains to go along with those lifetimes, and my brain is as puny as anyone else's...