‘Santa Barbara News-Press’ Files for Bankruptcy
Publisher Ampersand Claims Few Assets and Many Creditors
More than 150 years of history ended on Friday when the Santa Barbara News-Press declared bankruptcy in a Chapter 7 filing by Ampersand Publishing, LLC. The online edition that day was the last news Santa Barbara will receive from the newspaper, founded as the weekly Santa Barbara Post in 1868, once the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for its editorials outing the John Birch Society, and owned by the New York Times before being bought by onetime billionaire Wendy McCaw in 2000 for a reported $110 million.
Thc Chapter 7 filing is for liquidation, not reorganization. Though a creditors’ meeting is set for September 7, 2023, the bankruptcy filing states, “No property appears to be available to pay creditors. Therefore, please do not file a proof of claim now.”
That appears to include the newspaper’s employees. In an email to staff, Managing Editor Dave Mason wrote: “I have some bad news. Wendy filed for bankruptcy on Friday. All of our jobs are eliminated, and the News-Press has stopped publishing. They ran out of money to pay us. They will issue final paychecks when the bankruptcy is approved in court.”
