Newspaper Brings in Blackstone for Help
News is further evidence of the severe woes impacting the newspaper industry
May 5, 2008
The Minneapolis Star Tribune is making some news of its own.
While denying reports that it has missed debt payments, the newspaper has hired The Blackstone Group to help evaluate its finances.
The New York Post said Sunday that the Minneapolis newspaper was near bankruptcy and was having trouble meeting its debt obligations, a report the Star Tribune’s publisher denied.
"The Star Tribune currently has sufficient liquidity and is current on all its debt payment obligations," said the paper's chairman and publisher Christopher Harte in a statement Sunday, according to the Star Tribune. He added the newspaper would not miss a debt payment this year unless things worsened.
The newspaper, owned by New York private equity firm Avista Capital Partners, has seen a nearly 7% drop in circulation in the past six months or so, and revenue has been cut in half since 2000 amid an industrywide slowdown in the newspaper business.
For the full story from the Star Tribune, click here.
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