It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Who Is Philadelphia’s New Anonymous Newspaper Investor?
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 1:35 pm - by Guest Commentator. Filed under: Community.
By Mark Berkey-Gerard
Last week, Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com, presented a reorganization plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that it says will keep the local newspapers open for business.
Under the plan, a group of local investors would provide $35 million in cash and a $17 million line of credit. The creditors, who are owed more than $300 million, would receive about $92 million in cash, bankruptcy costs, and real estate, including the company’s headquarters at 400 N. Broad Street.
To help sell the idea, the media company has launched a campaign to stress the idea of local ownership. Newspaper vendors have “Keep It Local” posters at street corners. There is an online petition to sign. And there is a Keep It Local Facebook page.
CEO Brian Tierney says that local investors aren’t putting money in to make a quick profit, but “because they know it is important for the community.” They include Bruce Toll, the housing developer, and the local Carpenters’ Union Pension Fund.
But there is also a third, more mysterious partner called Penn Matrix Investments, which does not show up in Internet searches, financial filings, or news archives.
An article on Philly.com states, “According to the company, Penn Matrix Investments is owned solely by a wealthy Philadelphian who wanted to be anonymous for now.”
Tierney, who put in $10 million of his own money to buy the papers in 2006, says he isn’t the anonymous investor.
“I’ve decided that this plan doesn’t have me investing nor does this plan have an employment contract for me, because I wanted to ensure that everybody would feel like I was being an honest broker,” Tierney said in interview with Bloomberg News.
The reorganization must still be approved by creditors, who have their own plan, which includes replacing Tierney. A judge must also approve it, and that won’t happen until later this fall.
So who do you think would want to own a piece of Philadelphia’s local newspapers?
Start with a list of the Top 100 Highest Paid CEOs in the Philadelphia area — and take your best guess at who is behind Penn Matrix Investments.
Mark Berkey-Gerard teaches online journalism at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Betting money is on Vernon Hill, the former head of Commerce Bank, whose new venture to combine his Pennsylvania Commerce Bank franchise with that of Harry Madonna’s Republic First Bank also includes lending Tierney the money needed for some part of the bankruptcy analysis. The last thing Philadelphia needs are these hands in their news media.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
At this point who cares? It’s obvious by now that Brian Tierney needs to be fired.
Tierney’s run as head of a publishing company has been one long continuous failure and embarrassment. A lot of bold pronouncements with nothing backing it. A lot of smoke and no fire. The only thing Tierney and the spawlmeisters Toll Bros. accomplished is pocketing the money they borrowed. Tierney paid himself more than a million dollars in 1998 while trying to force workers into taking a $25-a-week pay cut. He paid family members hundreds of thousands of dollars in shadow corporations. He paid more than $200,000 for junket to Rome for his top advertisers.
This is while driving the company into bankruptcy.
The number two in command drives a Maserati to work and shoves it in the face of the staff.
Tierney always said he was going to sell the company headquarters but for some reason could never sell the damn building.
Throughout this embarrassing ordeal, Tierney has used the two dailies and the Web site to make grand announcements and run advertising campaigns of all his false claims, diminishing further the publishing company’s most salable asset: Its integrity.
Now he’s trying to pay off debtors by returning pennies on the dollar while keeping ownership of the company. And of course, he’s started another advertising campaign.
Prior to this debacle he managed, into the ground, the political aspirations of Sam Katz, a Republican candidate for mayor. His mismanaged campaign so thoroughly embarrassed Katz as a political figure that will never be able to run for political office in the city again.
Please, someone take guy out of his misery. He is crazy.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Tierney has been doing a great job trying to breathe life into that paper.
Who could have bought the paper in 2006 and not currently be in bankruptcy? Nobody, as you can see by all the dailies that are restructuring i.e. Tribune Company/Sam Zell and Star Tribune/Harte.
I work for the Inquirer and firmly believe the paper is better today then it was three years ago. That is saying a lot when you consider the cuts that had to be made around here.
He is CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings and Publisher of the Inquirer. How can you complain about his pay when it well below industry standards?
If these hedge funds push Tierney out, the papers and this city are in trouble. Just look at the Minneanapolis Tribune…Angelo Gordon and many of the same banks have slashed and burned that company. Including voiding union contracts.
The grass is always greener on the other side ,until you get there.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:49 am
UPDATE: 9/15/09
“David W. Haas, a philanthropist and an heir to the Rohm & Haas Co. fortune, acknowledged today that he is one of three investors who have stepped forward to try to clear Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. of debt and keep the company under its current management.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20090915_Haas_secret_DN_Inkie_investor.html