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An effort is underway to try to maintain local control of the company that publishes the Reading Eagle newspaper, following its filing for bankruptcy protection, WRAL.com reported. Documents filed on Thursday in bankruptcy court revealed that the Reading Eagle Co.'s chief financial officer is seeking to put together a group of community investors to make a bid for the media company. Shawn Moliatu said that he wants to maintain the traditions of a family-owned newspaper that has served the Reading area for over 150 years. The company's other properties include news-talk radio station WEEU and a weekly newspaper. It announced on Wednesday that it will continue to publish and broadcast under chapter 11 bankruptcy rules while it seeks a buyer. The company listed assets at just over $15 million and liabilities at just under $38.5 million, and reported a sharp drop in ad revenues.

Shuttered toy retailer Toys “R” Us’ real estate subsidiary has emerged from bankruptcy proceedings with a new name and organizational structure, FoxBusiness.com reported. The firm will now be called Hill Street Properties after previously operating as Toys “R” Us Property Co., or PropCo. Raider Hill Advisors, which advised the firm during bankruptcy proceedings last summer, will provide day-to-day oversight of the firm’s dealings and manage its remaining properties “including all leasing, redevelopment and disposition activities,” according to a press release. "It will be business as usual for the 168 remaining properties across 40 states,” Raider Hill founder and CEO Danial Hurwitz said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Hill Street as we continue to market these assets without any interruption of the numerous transactions already under contract or those currently in negotiation." Toys “R” Us declared bankruptcy last summer after years of declining sales. The retail giant liquidated its remaining stores after failing to find a buyer for its U.S. business.

F+W Media Inc., the company behind Writer’s Digest, Sky & Telescope, Beadwork and other niche publications, filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell itself, saying it faced a cash crunch despite a restructuring that included laying off 40 percent of its workers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 filing on Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., comes nearly two years after an out-of-court reorganization in which lenders received nearly all of the equity in exchange for forgiving most of the debt.F+W, whose name is derived from two of its earliest publications, Farm Quarterly and Writer’s Digest, has $105 million in debt. The New York-based company’s products and services include online education, subscription video sites, consumer and trade events, e-commerce stores, and print and digital books and magazines. Revenues last year were $89.7 million.

As Gap Inc. plans to separate from its Old Navy brand, the mall-based retail chain is looking to add a bankrupt children’s clothing retailer to its portfolio, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Gap is in discussions to acquire Gymboree Group Inc.’s Janie and Jack stores and brand. Janie and Jack is Gymboree’s high-end brand that has outperformed its parent. In addition to purchasing Janie and Jack’s brand and inventory, Gap is also looking to buy the brand’s stores as well as the intellectual property, brands and websites related to Gymboree. Gymboree, which filed for bankruptcy in January, currently operates more than 900 stores, including 102 stores and 45 outlets under the Janie and Jack banner. The remainder of the stores are being liquidated. In total, Gymboree employs about 10,100 people.

A bankruptcy judge has signed off on the sale of most of San Antonio-based All American Oil & Gas Inc.’s assets to its largest creditor, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Kern Cal Oil 7, which has held some $145 million in secured claims, will acquire the assets. KCO bid the amount it’s owed by AAOG as part of a “credit bid” in the proceeding. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald King in San Antonio approved the deal on Thursday. The bankruptcy had been shaping up to be a contentious affair until AAOG and KCO agreed to mediate their claims. “AAOG shareholders stand to receive up to $5.5 million in royalty payments if certain pricing conditions are met,” said bankruptcy lawyer Deborah Williamson, who also represents the company. Read more. 

Williamson is the author of ABI's revised and expanded When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy, Second Edition. Get your copy here. 

Nielsen thinks it has the pieces in place to finally drive up the scale of addressable TV advertising, targeted based on a television household’s profile the way internet ads have been served for years, Variety reported. The media-measurement firm has formed Nielsen Advanced Video Advertising, a new group focusing on developing addressable advertising initially for internet-connected smart TVs. To fill what it says was a missing link in its portfolio, Nielsen last week acquired Sorenson Media, an addressable TV technology provider, in a bankruptcy-court proceeding with a winning $11.25 million bid. Sorenson had filed for chapter 11 reorganization last fall, citing an “onerous” addressable-advertising contract with Sinclair Broadcasting that would have forced Sorenson to pay more than $100 million over the life of the deal.