Burl Osborne
It looks like Scott Flanders left for the land of smoking jackets and naked bunnies just in time.
Freedom Communications, the owner of the East Valley Tribune and other Arizona newspapers, is considering entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company’s new chief executive told the Orange County Register on Monday.
Burl Osborne, who took over as CEO after Scott Flanders left to head up Playboy Enterprises in Chicago, said that Freedom is in heated negotiations with its banks over how to handle $700 million in debt hanging around the company’s neck.
One option, Osborne said, would be to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so the company could reorganize with the help of a federal judge. However, Osborne cautioned, “it does not mean the company is bankrupt,” saying that “one can’t be certain of anything” at this point.
One thing that is clear, however, is that the Hoiles family, libertarians who have been in the newspaper business since the early 1900s, will come out of the deal with, at most, a minority stake in the company, Osborne said.
Besides the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Freedom also owns the Yuma Sun, as well as the Orange County Register, which published the interview.
Full disclosure: I am a former reporter at the East Valley Tribune.