The Words of the Joo Family

Rev. Sun Myung Moon Buys Washington Times, Newspaper He Founded, for $1 - Douglas Joo

Anthony Palazzo
November 2, 2010
Bloomberg.com

The Washington Times was rescued from a possible shutdown by its founder, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who agreed to assume debts accumulated by the newspaper under his son's control.

A group operating on behalf of Moon, leader of the Unification Church, paid $1 for the newspaper and agreed to assume its liabilities, the Washington Times said today on its website.

The sale ends the threat that the newspaper, which successfully fought an effort to force it into bankruptcy, will be closed. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge S. Martin Teel Jr. dismissed an involuntary petition against Washington Times LLC on Oct. 29, after its lawyers told the court that a pending sale would provide $3.1 million in cash to pay creditors.

The Washington Times struggled to pay its bills amid declining circulation, management changes and the withdrawal of prior financial support from Moon. That support will resume, the newspaper said, citing Douglas D.M. Joo, who spoke for the five- member board that will oversee the publication.

Moon's oldest living son, Preston Moon, took control of the newspaper four years ago, the Washington Post reported today. Three executives he had fired will return, the Post said. They are, according to that newspaper, Joo, who was chairman; Thomas McDevitt, the former president and publisher; and Keith Cooperrider, who was finance chief.

Involuntary Petition

The involuntary bankruptcy petition was filed against the newspaper by Richard A. Steinbronn, a fired officer of an affiliate who claimed the company owed two other affiliates $2 million and therefore should be under court protection. The proposed sale was disclosed on Oct. 25 in court papers seeking dismissal of Steinbronn's petition.

Steinbronn, a former director of Times Aerospace International LLC, said in the filing he was "wrongfully terminated from various positions in early 2009."

The Washington Times' daily circulation is 38,587 and it employs 128 people, according to court filings. Readership has fallen from last year, when circulation fell 17 percent to 67,148 in the six months ending 2009, according to the most recent data available from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That compares with declines of 6.4 percent at the Washington Post in the period, and 11 percent industry-wide. 

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