Moody's

Moody’s drops publisher’s rating following deal news.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) filed its 10-Q with the SEC Friday and it's not a pretty sight. The company projected a $140-150 million write down for the New England Media Group when it reported Q3 results Oct.

With everything going on in the credit markets lately, this is hardly an ideal time to have the quality of your debt challenged, but that's exactly what happened to the Washington Post Co. yesterday when both Moody's and Standard and Poor's revised the ratings outlook for the publisher from stable to negative.

Citing revenue declines in its magazine and newspaper businesses, ratings service agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded their ratings outlooks Monday for Newsweek publisher the Washington Post Company from stable to negative.read more

I'm swamped today with business tasks and a family emergency. So I can't do much more than point to the news that Cygnus has defaulted on a portion of its debt. Credit-rating agency Moody's responded by cutting its rating on the B2B publisher.I expect we'll see a lot more of this from those companies that are in similar trouble -- choking on debt, tied to expensive print production and dependent on a staff that has lost faith.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded three of Cygnus Business Media’s ratings as a result of the publisher’s disclosure that it is in default under the financial covenants of its senior secured loan agreements.
A Cygnus spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
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How long can The New York Times Co. afford to buy shareholders' goodwill?