Person to Watch
Richard Mirman
We said Mirman was one to keep an eye on last year as he took on the challenge of getting Freedom Communications Inc. “back on a trajectory of growth.”
The publisher of the Orange County Register in Santa Ana and the Press-Enterprise in Riverside “is on pace to generate a profit in 2015,” Mirman said, while also revealing that the media company filed for Chapter 11 protection and his intention to lead a group of local investors to purchase its assets in a bankruptcy sale.
The investor-turned-chief executive is counting Freedom Chairman Eric Spitz and Mike Harrah, the largest commercial property owner in Santa Ana, as part of his team to outbid the Los Angeles Times’ Chicago-based parent, Tribune Publishing Co., and Denver-based Digital First Media, publisher of the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Los Angeles Daily News.
“I am confident our bid will be successful, and the company will emerge with a solid financial foundation and well-positioned for future success,” Mirman wrote in the letter. “The goal is to strengthen our position as the leader in providing local news and information for Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.”
The company’s biggest chunk of debt—about $19.5 million—is owned by Silver Point Finance LLC, according to recent filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central District of California. The Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund has offered $4.5 million to Freedom as working capital during bankruptcy proceedings. It also called for refinancing terms of its loan to the company to include a provision that would essentially guarantee a repayment.
Will Mirman be out of the picture next year? Stay tuned for our prediction in the next issue of the Business Journal.
Company to Watch
Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc.
November marked the 21st month of year-over-year sales increases for the Cypress-based automaker. It has sold 80,683 so far this year, up 25% over the same period last year.
“We expect this momentum to carry on as we debut vehicles that are better looking and packed with more value than ever before,” Mitsubishi Executive Vice President Don Swearingen said at last month’s Los Angeles Auto Show, where the automaker debuted the 2016 Outlander Sport and the 2017 Mirage.
The Outlander Sport was manufactured at Mitsubishi’s factory in Normal, Ill., but the automaker announced in July that it plans to sell the plant and shift to imports from its parent company’s overseas plants.
Mitsubishi hired Newport Beach-based The Brand Amp as its public relations agency of record. Brand Amp helped it celebrate its 5 millionth vehicle sold in the U.S. on Dec. 9.
The automaker’s OC rivals, Kia Motors America Inc. in Irvine and Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, reached similar milestones this year, selling their 6 millionth and 10 millionth vehicles in the U.S., respectively.
