Bridge Dismantles News Operations

By: Seth Sutel, AP Business Writer (AP) Bridge Information Systems Inc. is dismantling its news operations as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, which began in February and are now nearing completion.

Some of Bridge's news units may be sold to a bidder for its last remaining major asset, the bond data service Telerate, but others will be shut down in the coming weeks, company spokesman Joel Weiden said Friday.

Weiden said the pending sales made the number of layoffs uncertain, but at least two of the company's news units -- those covering commodities and company news -- will be closed.

Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and other publications, is buying the contracts to deliver Bridge's commodities and company news for $6.5 million, subject to bankruptcy court approval.

Dow Jones only intends to keep 10 members of the current staff of the affected Bridge units, meaning that the 140 other employees would likely be laid off as the units are shut down, Weiden said. About 235 people work for the other parts of Bridge's news business, and the fate of those operations remains uncertain.

Angus Robertson, executive vice president of BridgeNews, told employees in a memo sent out Thursday that Reuters would supply its own news in place of Bridge's after completing the purchase of several financial information services from Bridge.

"While we will continue to work with buyers of other Bridge assets to acquire parts of our news operations, it is now time to acknowledge that BridgeNews as we have known it will be wound down in the next several weeks," Robertson said. "I thank you and ask that you continue to help keep the BridgeNews flag flying proudly until it is time to lower it forever," he said.

Bridge has already sold off much of its assets, including a $275 million deal reached in April that will give Reuters control of a number of Bridge's financial information assets including EJV, a bond pricing and data service; Bridge Trading, an electronic trading business; and eBridge, an online information provider for large financial institutions.

The main asset remaining to be sold is Telerate, a bond information service that Bridge bought from Dow Jones. Weiden said the company was still speaking to a potential buyer, but he declined to provide further details.

Bridge filed for bankruptcy protection in February after failing to reach an agreement with its creditors on new financing. The company grew rapidly over the past several years through acquisitions, but it faced difficulty integrating its businesses and dealing with customer complaints about billing glitches.