Alaska Dispatch News lives to fight another day

ANCHORAGE — A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday allowed the sale of the insolvent Alaska Dispatch News to the Binkley family for the meager sum of $1 million — a total the Fairbanks-based family has already paid just to keep the state’s biggest newspaper afloat through the bankruptcy proceedings.

Flocked by reporters — many of them will be his new employees once the sale is finalized on Thursday — 38-year-old Ryan Binkley was asked how he planned to make the paper’s disastrous ledger even out, and whether staff layoffs would be part of the solution.

“There’s no magic bullets,” Binkley said on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Anchorage just after the ruling. “There’s revenue on one side and expenses on the other and both need to be affected… Payroll is a big expense, rent is a big expense and each one of them is going to be looked at very carefully.”

Creditors in the bankruptcy case against the ADN and its owner of three years, Alice Rogoff, were by and large displeased with the decision, which essentially found the property to be not just insolvent, but almost worthless in terms of material goods to be liquidated in a Chapter 7 action.

Attorney Mike Mills, representing the group of unsecured creditors via phone, wanted Judge Gary Spraker to delay the sale in the hopes another bidder could be found.

Among the key creditors is GCI, which houses the paper’s lone operational printing press, and delivered the ADN an eviction notice last month.

“One thing that is absolutely clear from the evidence and looking at the financials is that this debtor is running out of money,” he said in reading his decision. “There’s no more money, no more time and also no more buyers.”

Spraker said the paper, which Rogoff purchased for a total of $34 million from McClatchy Newspapers in 2014, should undoubtedly sell for more than $1 million, but that it didn’t make sense to punish the Binkley’s — nor the ADN’s 200-plus employees, who would automatically lose their jobs if he ordered the company broken down and sold for parts — just because no one was bidding higher.

“I can’t compel the Binkley group to bid against themselves,” Spraker said. “That’s not how this process works.”

Spraker went on to say he was convinced that attempts by Rogoff and the ADN to sell the property to a number of bidders were made in good faith and that there was no collusion between the debtor and the prospective buyer.

Testimony revealed that six parties — including Wick Communications, which owns the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, The Eagle and the Anchorage Press — made inquiries about the purchase, but none found the ADN to be a wise business risk.

In his decision, Spraker wondered aloud why the Binkley group would want to make such a risky investment.

“I bit my tongue and did not inquire as to why the buyer believes this will succeed,” the judge said.

Ryan Binkley, whose father John Binkley has been rumored to be eying a run for governor next year, said his love of newspapers and love of Alaska lessen those practical doubts.

“All that was was a big, huge first step and the first of many,” Ryan Binkley said of the bankruptcy proceeding. “This is the start of a long road; not the end of it. I’m enthusiastic about this business. People ask why, especially after all these other groups came and went. But I think it’s important and we’ve got to continue. It would be a complete shame if it went away.”

Binkley said his father’s possible run for the governorship shouldn’t be a conflict of interest.

“He’s our father, our business advisor and everything I know about business I learned from my father and uncles,” Binkley said. “There’s a separation now. He’s not an owner of the business now.”

When asked whether the calamitous fall of the Dispatch was to be blamed more on the declining newspaper industry or the paper’s business practices under Rogoff, Binkley demurred.

“The newspaper industry is declining. I’m not going to comment on what Ms. Rogoff did or didn’t do,” he said. “This is a challenging industry for seasoned operators, and our challenge is we’re not seasoned operators. We’ve engaged experts and we’re going to lean on their knowledge. We bring business knowledge, knowledge of the state of Alaska, and with all those groups together, we’ll be able to turn it around.”

Binkley said his first priority, after meeting with the staff that afternoon, was to determine a place to print the product, either in Anchorage or elsewhere in the state.

“The turnaround has to happen quickly and we’re going to move quickly,” Binkley said. “In terms of the creditors… they probably didn’t get what they deserve and that’s a shame… We are optimistic, but we’re also very well informed. We’ve been working on this a long time and we think we can get it done.”