Poynter Online
Go


Top Story

Young Journalists Use Facebook Ads to Reach Prospective Employers
Most Recent Articles
Most E-mailed
Recent Comments
Recent Tags
Community Activity

Poynter Training
Poynter Seminars
Small, in-person training experiences.
News University
Today's most popular courses on NewsU, Poynter's e-learning site for journalists.
Webinars
Our online classroom is just a click away. Learn more.
All Webinars

Poynter Forums

View Forum Post

Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 11/16/2009 7:28:41 AM
Title: Tribune memo on bankruptcy plans
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From: Tribune Communications
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 4:34 PM
Subject: Message from Randy Michaels and Gerry Spector/Motions Filed Today

This afternoon, we filed two motions with the court overseeing our Chapter 11 bankruptcy; these motions give us a good opportunity to update you on the restructuring process.

One motion asks the court to extend the period of exclusivity for filing our restructuring plan to March 31, 2010. In plain English, this motion seeks to extend the time during which only we can file a plan. The current period of exclusivity expires at the end of this month.

As the motion states, we have made “substantial progress toward filing a plan of reorganization… ”. Our goal is to deliver a plan that our creditors can support and to do so as quickly as possible. We continue active discussions with our creditors in this regard. The other motion filed asks the court to hold a status conference on certain matters related to accomplishing this goal.

The exclusivity motion makes it clear that we’ve accomplished a lot as a company. With your help, we have stabilized and repositioned our businesses, exceeding the financial results of most of our newspaper and broadcasting peers. This year we project operating cash flow of approximately $400 million—nearly double our original operating plan.

Last week here in Chicago, we met with the leaders of all of our business units and their top sales executives to share ideas and best practices as we head into the last two months of 2009. It was a very productive meeting. There is some incredibly innovative work being done on the sales side, but we can’t let up—we have to keep pushing, keep working together across all of our properties and markets, and keep looking for new solutions for our advertisers.

Today’s motions will generate some media attention. Try to tune out the noise and focus on your job. The fourth quarter is traditionally the strongest one of the year and, with your continued hard work, we're sure this year will be no different.

Randy and Gerry


View Complete Forum Topic

Username
Password
New User? Signup Now
Poynter Careers
More media jobs