RE: Encouraging News (Was Sad news)

OK guys,

Before it gets to be a long night... I think we've figured that they're
coming out of chapter 11 and, at least for the time being, things are
looking status quo and OK.

Now, back to IBM's marketing... :) :) :)

DR2

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joe Pluta
Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:26 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Encouraging News (Was Sad news)

DrFranken wrote:

Joe,

It's quite tiring to constantly hear 'the bad'. I wish you had picked
up on the 'While they have filed for Chapter 11 re-organization their
agreement means they will continue to serve the IBM i community.' Thanks
to DR2 for pointing out the positive!

WTF? I said "I'm not sure what exactly this entails for the
publications" because I don't. I'm happy they will continue to serve
the i community but frankly nobody knows what that means right now.
Hopefully it means that all the publications will continue on but I
don't know.

I also said "but it's a sad sign of the times, the economy and our
industry." which it is. I actually avoided the negative, which is that
no matter how happy a face as you want on it, the company is a billion
dollars in debt and can't meet it. That's not a happy thing. And the
fact that they're reorganizing a quarter of that debt away means some
creditors are out a few hundred million. That's not exactly a stimulus.

I also said "I wish them the best" and I do. I've written for System
iNetwork and I like the Penton folks. I didn't spread any rumors, I
didn't say anything bad about the company, I didn't even intimate that
any of the publications would "go away" as you put it. All I said was
that they filed bankruptcy.

Sheesh.

Lighten up, Francis.

I for one am glad that the first news I heard was of a Successful
agreement to keep them in business and not rumors or rumors of rumors
that they were 'going away.'

- Larry

Ah, the lovely world of financial dealings. I don't know what you mean
by "well into coming out of it" but as far as I've read they filed last
week (Tuesday?) a pre-packaged plan to reorganize about a quarter of
their debt and they expect to be done with the process in 45-60 days.
It's a prepackaged bankruptcy which means everything is a done deal, and
they already know who is going to get what. In fact, I got a letter
saying that if I attempted to collect any debts owed me I might be
penalized. Vaguely authoritarian legal stuff, but pre-packs are all the
rage now.

Joe

Joe,

It's a chapter 11 filing as I understand and it looks like they're well

into

coming out of it.

http://www.foliomag.com/2010/penton-media-file-chapter-11-bankruptcy

DR2

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Sad news

Penton Media filed bankruptcy.

I'm not sure what exactly this entails for the publications but it's a
sad sign of the times, the economy and our industry.

They've always been one of the premier teams of i talent and I wish them
the best.

Joe