Sunday, June 21, 2009

Failed Daily Pilot Bid
Leads Veterans to Start News Site

Two California news veterans have launched an Internet news site after being unable to buy The Daily Pilot from its bankrupt parent company, Chicago-based Tribune Co.

Tom Johnson, the former publisher of the Daily Pilot, and Bill Lobdell, the paper’s former editor, started the Newport-Mesa Daily Voice site last week after failing to raise the $500,000 to $1 million needed to buy the struggling newspaper.

“We believed we had a chance at buying the Daily Pilot out of bankruptcy court, and so everything was sort of set,” Lobdell said. “But we couldn’t raise what was needed.”

Tribune, which owns the Daily Pilot through the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection in December seeking relief from $12 billion in debt that largely stems from taking the company private in 2007. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

No comments: