Apparently, they at least tried. With Avalon Equity, the majority stakeholder in Blade publisher Window Media (and a secondary umbrella group called Unite), in the hands of the Small Business Association, it was the federal government in charge of figuring out what to do with the publisher's assets as the company's financials turned worse. But could SBA have unloaded the papers on to a willing buyer?
Perhaps, though it's unclear why nothing happened — and instead Window closed up shop. Duncan Osborne reports: "Chris Cash, a former owner of the Southern Voice who sold the paper to Window Media in 1996, told Gay City News that she contacted the SBA about the possibility of buying back that newspaper earlier this year after learning the agency had forced Avalon into receivership. She was referred to an attorney at Gottesman, Wolgel. 'He took my cell phone number, my physical address, my email address, and told me he would send me something,' Cash said. 'I never received anything… He did say at that time that it surprised him that he had interested investors.'"
But maybe SBA simply thought that even if there were interested purchasers, nobody was willing to assume the debt load: "Window had $2.6 million outstanding on two loans. The SBA had $2.3 million in equity, or just over 75 percent of the equity, in Window. Unite had an unpaid loan for $235,000 and SBA had $2.4 million in equity invested in Unite, or just over 90 percent of the equity."
Was Cash willing to assume the debt? Gay City News's report doesn't say, but any wise financial adviser with any familiarity with today's gay media climate would tell you: If you've got $2.6 million just to take on debt, that cash would be better served, say, starting your own gay blog.
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Why would the people in charge of selling a publication, want to sell if they had an interest in owning something themselves. I inquired about purchasing one of the publications and never got an answer. I was told that one of the officers of WM was interested, but he needed money. It would be cheaper for them to shut down everything, thus clearing the way for a new start without the overhead and cost of the existing publication. This would also allow for new SBA loans, starting the process all over again.
Men Magazine and Freshmen Magazine will be History soon. The printed editions will stop in a short time… So long Men Mags!
Isn't 2.6 million peanuts in today's business world?
A gay blog does not have nearly the impact of a printed newspaper publication. One more gay blog just gets lost in the din. Both Southern Voice and Washington Blade were serious publications of record.
Isn't obvious why the publications weren't sold? Someone at SBA would rather rid the world of a few fag rags and take the tiny hit to the balance sheet as opposed to sell them where they can continue to publish.
And as pointed out by Jason, they can now form a new corporation, run by many if not all of the same folks, apply for new loans and start the process all over again.
I know a guy who does this. He has presided over more than 20 failed businesses to date. Every time, he always manages to get new financing and new venture capital. Pays himself well during start up and always manages to have an initial pop where things look good, but they always fail.
The Dallas Voice is closing soon. These local advertising rags just don't have young readership anymore.
Didn't even know it existed. Maybe some better marketing may have helped.
We should say a prayer for everyone at the papers. They should celebrate that they were set free from their fat dictator – and now are free to do their own thing
The IRS.