The dawn of the dread

Is sale hope, doom for Sun-Times Media?

The last time my former employer was sold, it was cause for hope, even as it rankled the rank-and-file union members. They were the ones who bowed to James Tyree’s pressure to make a number of key contract concessions to ensure Tyree’s investment group would close on the purchase of the former Sun-Times News Group.

Is this Sun-Times' final year?

(Image by Stock.xchng vi)

Early last week, I heard of two more former Sun-Times Media colleagues losing their jobs. A third contacted me about it on Saturday.

Yes, we’re into the year’s fourth quarter — cuts always seem to happen toward the end of one quarter or the beginning of the next. I’m not saying that is really true, but in the round after round of layoffs that company saw over the past 10 years, one of the common threads of comments was, “I knew this was going to happen —

Sun-Times to cut 400

Will media company fall as The Rocky did? 

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

When I received the email alert Tuesday afternoon from Crain’s Chicago Business, the headline I saw, “Sun-Times newspapers will roll off rival Tribune presses,” caught me by surprise, although it should not have.

The first thing thought that came to my mind as I read the story was the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, long affectionately called The Rocky by its readers. I lived out West for 11 years, and I had read the Rocky Mountain News from time to time. Some of the folks I worked with for four years in Cheyenne, Wyo., went on to better jobs at The Rocky.

Will Tyree partners be true to his word?

I read sadly Wednesday night of the passing of James Tyree, the financier who rose to lead Mesirow Financial for nearly 20 years and the force who rallied a group of investors to buy the bankrupt Sun-Times newspapers with the intent of inventing a new business model for the ailing publications.

Whether Tyree's efforts come to fruition remains to be seen. My heart goes out to his family for their loss. And my thoughts and prayers are also with my former colleagues at Sun-Times Media, many of whom I am sure are pondering how the death of the 53-year-old leader of the investment group that saved their jobs will affect them.

By many accounts, both published and word of mouth, Tyree was more than a successful businessman.