Adelphia is filing for Chapter 11

MSNBC ^ | June 25, 2002 | By Deborah Solomon

[Bayou City]

Adelphia is filing for Chapter 11

By Deborah Solomon
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NEW YORK, June 25 — Adelphia Communications Corp. is in the process of filing for bankruptcy court protection in New York, according to people familiar with situation. The company has secured $1.5 billion in debtor-in-possession financing.

THE BANKRUPTCY FILING, which had been expected for about a week, was preceded late last week by a deal that gave Adelphia financing of as much as $1.5 billion to allow it to continue operating.

The lender banks, which include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., granted $500 million immediately and planned to approve the remaining $1 billion contingent on preparation of an acceptable business plan.

While the court filing will help address Adelphia’s immediate cash needs, the cable company’s troubles are far from over. Many companies try to restructure while in Chapter 11, but it is unclear whether Adelphia will be able to emerge as a stand-alone company or if it will be sold off in pieces.

Adelphia is the target of a Securities and Exchange Commission accounting probe, and two federal grand-jury investigations into multibillion dollar off-balance-sheet loans given to the Rigas family.

The family has relinquished control of Adelphia’s board, and new directors disclosed that Adelphia’s cash flow, revenue and subscriber figures had been overstated. The new management team also disclosed a web of dealing that included $2.45 billion in company-backed loans.

[Bayou City]

Here is another company that ripped off the public, then hides behind chapter 11. These CEO's, CFO's need to be publicly arrested, tried and sent to prison for a long time. IMHO!

[blackdog]

Can anyone tell me if there is a connection between Adelphia and Comcast? I have some knowlege of some efforts that may have raided the coffers and took the cash to Europe. Is Adelphia connected to Comcast throgh it's principal offricers or board members?

[general_re]

I don't believe that's the case. MSNBC is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, and has an agreement with Newsweek to serve up online content for them, but they are neither owned nor held by Newsweek - they're just partners. As I understand it, Newsweek content from MSNBC is verboten, but MSNBC original content is not, unless and until MSNBC sues FR, that is...

And considering how often the WSJ lifts prints stories they find here (oh, yes - it happens), they can let it slide. ;)

[DoughtyOne]

Win the game and your complete registration fees are covered for FRiva Las Vegas.

[hottomale]

Msnbc is owned by GE.