<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1581692745510.jpeg" alt=" The parent company of the Kansas City Star has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Credit WIKIMEDIA COMMONS" />
 <figcaption> The parent company of the Kansas City Star has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Credit WIKIMEDIA COMMONS</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-city-star-parent-files-bankruptcy-protection#stream/0">Kansas News Service</a>KANSAS CITY — The parent company of the Kansas City Star has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York.&nbsp;McClatchy
 Co., which owns The Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle, says it hopes 
to shed about 60 percent of its $703 million in outstanding debt 
obligations as it continues its transition to digital media.McClatchy
 owns 30 newsrooms in 14 states. Besides The Star and Eagle, they 
include the Miami Herald in Florida, The News &amp; Observer in Raleigh,
 North Carolina, The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas and the 
Sacramento Bee in McClatchy's California hometown.McClatchy has 
been laboring under a heavy debt burden since acquiring the 
Knight-Ridder chain of newspapers in 2006 for $4.5 billion.&nbsp;The 
company, the country's second-largest newspaper chain, has secured $50 
million in debtor-in-possession financing from Encina Business Credit. 
That, combined with its operating cash flow, should provide enough cash 
for the company to function, McClatchy said.&nbsp;&nbsp;“When local media 
suffers in the face of industry challenges, communities suffer: 
polarization grows, civic connections fray and borrowing costs rise for 
local governments,” CEO Craig Forman said in a statement. “We are moving
 with speed and focus to benefit all our stakeholders and our 
communities.”If creditors and the bankruptcy court accepts 
McClatchy's reorganization plan, Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey 
hedge fund with $4.5 billion in assets that already owns a stake in 
McClatchy, would operate McClatchy as a private company. More than 7 
million shares of publicly owned and family-owned stock would be 
canceled.&nbsp;McClatchy was founded in Sacramento in 1857 during the
 California gold rush and the namesake McClatchy family has had a 
continuous ownership role since then.&nbsp;The bankruptcy proceeding 
would also allow McClatchy to address some $800 million in unfunded 
pension obligations. The company's qualified pension plan covers more 
than 24,500 current and future retirees and is supported by fewer than 
2,800 employees. Under McClatchy's Chapter 11 plan, the federal Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corp. would take over administration of the plan and 
McClatchy would make payments of $3.3 million per year to the agency 
over the next 10 years.&nbsp;That, too, would require bankruptcy court approval.&nbsp;In
 the short-term, the bankruptcy filing should have no immediate effect 
on McClatchy's newspapers, which will continue to operate as the Chapter
 11 proceeding proceeds.&nbsp;Unknown at this point is whether the 
newspapers will be sold — either individually or in groups — or will 
remain part of a more nimble, less debt-burdened McClatchy.&nbsp;The Associated Press contributed information to this report.&nbsp;

Kansas City Star parent files for bankruptcy protection