Newspaper executives are forced to come up with increasingly clever maneuvers to stave off bankruptcy. Lee Enterprises, which owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, my daytime employer, the Arizona Daily Star, and several small-town papers will reportedly resort to selling off its debt as junk bonds in order to prevent vulture investors from swooping in and picking at its carcass. [More]
bankruptcy
Dish Network Wins Blockbuster For $320 Million At Auction, Swears It Was Just Raising Its Hand To Wave To A Friend
By 4.6.11
Blockbuster Video — or rather the assets of Blockbuster — now have a new owner after Dish Network won what’s left of the beleaguered video rental company for around $320 million at auction. [More]
American Apparel May Pout Its Way Into Bankruptcy
By 4.1.11
American Apparel, the store perhaps better known for the barely legal, oft-undressed models in its ads, and the peccadilloes of company founder Dov Charney, than for its actual clothing, has alerted the Security and Exchange Commission that it may need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [More]
Use Up Your Blockbuster Gift Cards Before April 7, 2011
By 3.30.11
Do you have any Blockbuster Video gift cards lying around the house? Better find them and use them up soon, assuming that you can find a Blockbuster outlet. Multiple sources inside the company have let us know that those gift cards won’t be accepted after April 6, 2011 due to the company’s bankruptcy. [More]
Swoopo Parent Files For Bankruptcy, Site Down Due To 'Technical Issues'
By 3.29.11
If you’re a fan of online gambling masquerading as an auction, you’ll have to turn away from Swoopo and instead use one of its dozens of clones. The penny-auction leader filed for bankruptcy last week, and the site has been down due to “technical issues” for over a week. Will it be back? No one knows, and no one at Swoopo is answering support e-mails or any other contact. [More]
Judge Says Blockbuster Can Go Ahead And Sell Itself
By 3.11.11
Mired in $1 billion of debt, Blockbuster asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to let it auction itself off. After restructuring its plan to better suit creditors who were calling for liquidation, Blockbuster has been granted verbal approval by the court to go ahead and put itself on the market. The judge still has to put his decision in writing to make it official. [More]
Even After Bankruptcy, Couple Continues To Splurge
By 2.25.11
This couple filed for bankruptcy but still kept going on vacations on at exotic four-star hotels, despite not paying their mortgage since September. A financial planner helps them get a grip on reality. [More]
Borders Turns The Page To Chapter 11
By 2.16.11
We knew this was going to happen, and now it has come to pass: Borders has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to shutter 30% of its stores as a result. [More]
Don't Rush Into Buying Stuff At Liquidation Sales
By 2.10.11
With the news that the Ultimate Electronics chain is to be liquidated, we were reminded of the Circuit City liquidation and the lessons consumers (hopefully) learned from that debacle. [More]
Borders Delays Payments To Vendors For 2nd Month
By 1.31.11
Stumbling book store chain Borders has said that it would delay payments to landlords and vendors for the 2nd month in a row. In a terse press release, the company said the move was meant to “help the company maintain liquidity while it seeks to complete a refinancing or restructuring of its existing credit facilities and other obligations.” In other words, they’re trying cling to cash and stave off bankruptcy. Borders also announced receiving a $550 million loan from GE Capital. Better keep pushing those loyalty cards to customers that could become worthless pieces of plastic if the company goes belly up, Borders clerks, you’re our only hope! Customers, if you got a Borders gift card for Christmas, now might be a good time to cash it in. [More]
Employee: Borders Is Making Us Push Loyalty Cards That May Be Worthless If Company Declares Bankruptcy
By 1.14.11
Borders has struggled to pay publishers and may be facing bankruptcy. As a result, one employee is alleging the bookseller is getting desperate, ordering employees to encourage customers to buy loyalty cards that could lose all value if the company files Chapter 11. [More]
Report: Blockbuster To File For Bankruptcy Tomorrow Morning
By 9.22.10
About a month ago, we wrote about reports that Blockbuster Video would be filing for bankruptcy in mid-September. So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Bloomberg News is reporting that the video chain will be making the filing official on Thursday morning. [More]
Blockbuster CFO Has Left The Building
By 9.13.10
With the countdown clock still ticking on what many see as Blockbuster Video’s inevitable bankruptcy filing, comes news that the once-great movie rental company’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice-President (one guy, two titles) stepped down over the weekend. [More]
Report: Blockbuster Exploring Bankruptcy Options
By 6.13.10
Hear that rattling sound? It’s coming from the chest of Blockbuster Video. A new report claims that the once-mammoth video rental chain, which admitted only months ago that bankruptcy might be in the offing, is now prepping for the harsh reality of Chapter 11 protection. [More]
Blockbuster In Danger Of Being Thrown Off The NYSE
By 3.30.10
Blockbuster has announced that they are in danger of being de-listed from the NYSE because they do not meet the minimum market capitalization requirements. Market capitalization is a measurement of the size of a business equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company. The NYSE requires businesses to have a market capitalization of at least $75 million over a 30-day trading period. [More]
Woman Who Lost Home Over $68 Dental Bill Might Get Another Chance
By 3.1.10
Almost a year ago, Sonya Capri Ramos was in the news because she’d lost her home over a $68 dental bill. Last week, the Utah Court of Appeals gave her some hope that she might be able to get it back from the title company that bought it at auction for $1,550. [More]
Am I Responsible For My Parents' Debt?
By 11.13.09
Jay’s parents have gotten quite, uh, spendy with their retirement income, and now they’ve got a lot of debt they can’t pay off. This has become Jay’s problem not because he’s a party to any of the debt, but because they’ve put him down as a reference and now bill collectors are harassing him.
GM And Penske End Saturn Sale Talks
By 10.1.09
Saturn will not have a new life as part of Penske, the company that, among other things, distributes Smart cars in the U.S. Talks between Penske and GM fell apart today, and so did any chance for a deal.
