With the news that Tribune Co. has filed for chapter 11 to protect itself from creditors while it restructures its debt, Mary Elson, Tribune Media Syndicate managing editor, has sent an email to its creators to reassure them that TMS is not going out of business and will operate business as usual.
An excerpt from her letter:
Regarding Tribune Media Services specifically, while the news no doubt raises many questions in your mind, I want to reassure you that we are not going out of business and that we will continue to operate as usual while the company restructures.
I would emphasize that we remain a very healthy company with both strong revenue and cash flow.
We expect additional developments during the week and will keep you posted on any vital information. We thank you, as always, for your excellent work and want you to know that we have some exciting projects planned for 2009. We remain dedicated to our mission as a premiere content distribution and talent development enterprise in the media business.
But, could a sale of TMS be looming? On one hand, probably not, because it is bringing revenue into Tribune. On the other hand, they haven’t quite figured out yet how to use the Internet to bring in revenue from their comics, especially their classic comics, in the way, say, King Features has, and it would be nice to see these properties in someone else’s hands.