Santa Barbara News-Press parent company owes $5.1 million to creditors. Here’s who

The Santa Barbara News-Press‘ parent company owes millions to former employees, vendors, utility companies and subscribers, according to owner Wendy McCaw’s updated list of creditors filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week.

With $5.13 million in total liabilities, Ampersand Publishing owes the largest amounts to McCaw herself, apparently for a 2014 loan to the company; to a media company headed by News-Press co-publisher Arthur Von Wiesenberger and to about 25 former employees, including people owed court settlements for labor disputes.

Ampersand Publishing, owned solely by McCaw, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 21, and the Santa Barbara News-Press eliminated all jobs and stopped publishing.

In the 161-page document filed Aug. 3, McCaw claims Ampersand Publishing has $532.96 in the bank.

It lists $116,000 in personal property, including office furniture and computers, artwork, five vehicles and printing materials such as newsprint and ink.

The 155-year-old newspaper’s archives, including “microfiche and bound copies,” are listed as assets with an unknown value, as are the printing presses and associated equipment.

The list of assets has no real property associated with the business.

In 2014, McCaw transferred the newspaper’s historic downtown Santa Barbara building at 715 Anacapa St. to another limited liability corporation she controls.

She did the same for the Goleta printing press building at 725 S. Kellogg Ave. in Goleta.

What stands out in the long list of creditors are all the Santa Barbara addresses. So many of the people owed money are local.

Some creditors appear to be unpaid vendors. A previous document listed about 800 subscribers as creditors who never got refunds when the paper stopped printing in late June and stopped doing anything on July 21 when McCaw filed for bankruptcy.

The News-Press owes money to residents, businesses, banks, law firms and nonprofit organizations such as the Foodbank and Santa Barbara Foundation, as well as a church, syndication services, printing-related companies and distributors.

It owes money to utility companies — including $176,000 to Southern California Edison — and to the city of Santa Barbara, the city of Goleta, Santa Barbara County and the state.

The latest court filing reveals the News-Press reported gross revenue of $3.36 million in 2021 and $2.97 million in 2022.

It is not clear if that includes the $1.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans the business received during the pandemic. The second loan for $500,000 was forgiven in July 2022, according to PPP trackers.

Central Coast newspaper’s creditors include past employees

The News-Press owes Dave Mason, the News-Press managing editor when it closed, $1,303.

He was the person who sent out the email telling staff all their jobs were eliminated, and they would not be getting final paychecks.

Director of operations Yolanda Apodaca is not listed as a creditor, and neither is reporting intern Liam Hibbert.

About 25 former employees are listed as creditors, including people who haven’t worked there for years but are owed money in lawsuit settlements for unfair labor practices at the paper.

In 2020, a National Labor Relations Board judge ordered Ampersand Publishing and McCaw to pay nearly $2.2 million to former employees and the Teamsters Union for labor violations.

The case was filed in 2007, and the 2020 order said Ampersand needs to “satisfy the long-standing obligations incurred as a result of its willful defiance of its statutory obligations, which have for more than a decade gone unremedied.”

Related to that case, Richard Mineards is owed $614,000, followed by Dennis Moran at $216,174, according to the bankruptcy filing.

The newspaper owes many other former employees between $30,000 and $80,000, presumably for this and other labor-related settlements.

Santa Barbara News-Press owes huge power bill

The News-Press owes Southern California Edison a staggering $176,000, an amount that implies an astronomical energy bill or one that is long-overdue.

SCE stopped service disconnections for nonpayment in 2020, like many other utility companies, and restarted them last year.

Commercial customers on payment plans wouldn’t get “final notice” disconnection warnings as long as they paid their monthly balance and payments on the past-due balance, according to SCE.

The News-Press also owes $45,000 to Tele Pacific Communications, more than $10,000 to Cox Communications, and money to Southern California Gas, MarBorg Industries, the Goleta Water District, Republic Elevator Company and Mission Uniform Service.

The California Department of Fax and Fee Payment Plan Administrators is owed $25,000 and the Employment Development Department is owed $34,000. The business owes $30,000 in payroll taxes for the first quarter, according to the court filing.

The News-Press owes $34,000 to Santa Barbara County, via Treasurer-Tax Collector Harry Hagen and $15,000 to the city of Santa Barbara.

Among the company’s debts are costs apparently associated with printing, distribution and syndication services. Gannett, Reuters, Tribune Content Agency, and other syndicated content companies are all listed among creditors.

And then there are the listed creditors known to be associated with McCaw and co-publisher Arthur Von Wiesenberger:

$1.47 million to McCaw for a 2014 loan plus interest (This is the only liability with a basis for the claim listed)

$215,000 to 1998 Ampersand Aviation LLC, one of McCaw’s LLCs

$390,000 to American Travel Media Corp., whose CEO and president is Von Wiesenberger

$41,193.87 to Ampersand Capital, LLC, one of McCaw’s LLCs

$35,000 to Pescadero Point Trust, which is connected to McCaw

$1,734.37 to Von Wiesenberger

Bankruptcy case has September meeting for creditors

Ampersand Publishing filed the bankruptcy case July 21 in the Central District of California, and a meeting of creditors is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 7.

Creditors have been receiving notices of the bankruptcy in the mail, and are told to contact the bankruptcy trustee, attorney Jerry Namba of Santa Maria, for information on how to join the telephone meeting.

McCaw’s Ampersand Capital LLC owns the bankruptcy court building in Santa Barbara, at 1415 State St., where documents can be viewed for this case.

McCaw is being represented in the bankruptcy by Anthony Friedman of Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik, of Los Angeles.

The bankruptcy court documents list the law firm as a creditor, and McCaw paid them $15,000 in April.

Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.