Reader's Digest parent seeks bankruptcy protection

[Cincinnatus]

The parent company of Reader's Digest has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than four years, saying it needs to cut its debt so it can keep restructuring.

RDA Holding Co. says it will keep publishing the magazine during the bankruptcy, and aims to be out of Chapter 11 within six months.

The New York company said late Sunday that it plans to cut its debt load by 80 percent during the restructuring, leaving it with about $100 million in debt. It said it has already reached agreements with its secured lender and more than 70 percent of its secured noteholders. A group of its creditors have supplied $45 million in new financing to help Reader's Digest go through the process as part of a $105 million loan to repay existing bank debt.

Reader's Digest has also been selling off some of its assets. It sold its food website Allrecipes.com for $175 million last year, and it sold its Every Day with Rachael Ray cooking magazine in late 2011. Both went to Meredith Corp., publisher of the Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/readers-digest-parent-seeks-bankruptcy-153001181.html

I find this kinda sad as I always enjoyed this magazine although of late it's not as good as it once was. It seems to have lost its focus on what it originally was as a digest of articles from other publications. Jokes, though, were still good.

[happyg]

I had always liked Reader's Digest, but like you said, it lost its focus. Besides, there are so many ads, and a lot less stories. My high school sophomore teacher made each of us order a subscription, and our spelling tests were from the "Test Your Word Power" page. We needed to know the spelling and meaning of all 20 words. That is when I got into reading it, but no more.

[jmyrlefuller]

I always enjoyed the jokes.

[Oceander]

The jokes were the part I always read whenever we went to my grandparents' house when I was young.


Unfortunately, print magazines are slowly but surely dying.  Time/Warner has just decided to get rid of most of its magazine portfolio, which to me is a sign that they've decided that print magazines will never again provide a sufficient return on investment.