'Star Tribune' Disputes Report It Is Near Bankruptcy

Posted Sunday, May 4, 2008 12:00 am

By: The Star Tribune has hired a private equity firm to advise it, but is disputing a published report that says it's "on the brink of bankruptcy."

Publisher and Chairman Chris Harte issued a statement this evening saying the Star Tribune "currently has sufficient liquidity and is current on all its debt payment obligations."

Harte was responding to a New York Post story that said the Minneapolis newspaper had hired the Blackstone Group of New York to restructure its balance sheet after failing to meet its debt obligations. The Post attributed that to unnamed "people familiar with the company."

Harte said the hiring of Blackstone "hardly merits a conclusion that we are near bankruptcy."

Like most major metropolitan newspapers, the Star Tribune is struggling with declining ad revenues.

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'Star Tribune' Disputes Report It Is Near Bankruptcy

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