I'm not surprised. The paper has been getting smaller by the day. They have fewer and fewer writers. Wish someone locally would buy the Star-Telegram, but I doubt anyone would want to invest their money in it unless they could pick it up for practically nothing.
Just had a friend retire from the S-T, hope his pension is not hit too hard.
Personally don't know what happens to pensions after bankruptcy, but this quote can't be good:
"The company has long struggled with its pension obligations, which as of March 2019 was underfunded by $535 million."
From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...ling-americas-local-news-crisis/#6ab0df4936a4
Personally don't know what happens to pensions after bankruptcy, but this quote can't be good:
"The company has long struggled with its pension obligations, which as of March 2019 was underfunded by $535 million."
From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...ling-americas-local-news-crisis/#6ab0df4936a4
The Bankruptcy Code treats unpaid pension obligations as a 5th priority claim. That's above even the tax collectors, and right after the priority order of unpaid current wages. That's the good news.
The bad new is pretty bad, and it comes pretty quickly. Pension commitments are treated as priority only to the extend the commitments came due within 180 days before the bankruptcy filing, and they are limited in amount to $13,650 less the amount of priority wages paid.
The above is a meatball description, but more or less generally accurate.
If McClatchy is as underfunded as the article linked above suggests (no reason to think the article isn't correct; Forbes writers and editors tend to know about this sort of thing), the possibility that someone will take a serious bath on pensions is real. The pensioners better hope that the pbgc can/will kick something in.
Or the pensioners may have to take common stock in a reorganized McClatchy (usually, yuck), for some part of what they are owed.
Or if the company ends up liquidating, the pensioners may be SOL to the extent a guaranty doesn't help them out. Administrative claims, including lawyers' fees for the bankrupt and for any official creditors' committees, come before priority wage and pension claims.
Hopefully some big money Fort Worth family can take it over and get it back to what it once was. I don't pretend to have a good model for print newspapers, as it seems to be a dying breed, but hopefully they can turn around their online content and start writing as allies of TCU again.
Small town model.
Sundays weekly addition. Ads run all week.
Online daily coverage.
The biggest issue with both the DMN and the ST is that so much of the content is just canned wire articles. I can find that stuff for free online. I do not really need to know the local dallas columnists story on something in washington DC (unless it is directly affecting North Texas). I can get that stuff anywhere.
I do not know if there is any hope with DMN or ST (or most local papers). However, both the DMN and ST need to focus on actual local issues. I can not get good local reporting and investigative journalism for free online. Hire great metro, business, and local political writers/columnists. Hire great local sports people. Get rid of all of the fluff.
The biggest issue with both the DMN and the ST is that so much of the content is just canned wire articles. I can find that stuff for free online. I do not really need to know the local dallas columnists story on something in washington DC (unless it is directly affecting North Texas). I can get that stuff anywhere.
I do not know if there is any hope with DMN or ST (or most local papers). However, both the DMN and ST need to focus on actual local issues. I can not get good local reporting and investigative journalism for free online. Hire great metro, business, and local political writers/columnists. Hire great local sports people. Get rid of all of the fluff.
Wondering how a medium size company can have 535M in pension obligations to begin with. And that's not total, but underfunded? 397 current employees. Don't know how many retired employees there are, but man, that seems crazy.Personally don't know what happens to pensions after bankruptcy, but this quote can't be good:
"The company has long struggled with its pension obligations, which as of March 2019 was underfunded by $535 million."
From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisett...ling-americas-local-news-crisis/#6ab0df4936a4