• The KillerFrogs

FW Star-Telegram Owner Declares Bankruptcy

Big Frog II

Active Member
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.
 

HFrog12

Full Member
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.
 

Eight

Member
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

pensions should be held in trust so they are not attachable by creditors of ownership.

the bigger challenge will now be whether the pbgc helps with the short fall or if individuals will received a reduced benefit and it really can become a mess if mcclatchy was making contributions to fund the plans with their own stock
 

froginaustin

Active Member
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.
 

Pharm Frog

Full Member
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.

And this is why people need to look at cashing out pensions if and when they are offered. Not saying or even implying that they "should" because there's some strong tax issues in play but it is something that should be considered and given some thought. I know quite a few folks who have had pensions washed away by the failure of some of the companies they worked for in their early careers.
 

Froglaw

Full Member
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.
 

MAcFroggy

Active Member
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.
 

Eight

Member
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.

this, it truly is amazing how much time and resources is spent reporting on the efforts, words, thoughts, and actions of individuals that don't impact our lives on a daily basis and how much is ignored of those in our community that truly impact our lives.

i don't even want to get started on the editorial section of most papers.
 

Billy Clyde

Active Member
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.

Agree and for several years now, I've found DMN to be in many cases more informative about Fort Worth issues than the S-T. Why I kept hoping that there might be a buyout.
 

AroundWorldFrog

Full Member
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
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.
 
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