Will Freedom Take Playboy Down With Register?

There is one thing we can take solace in here at the Weekly: post something online about infighting at the Orange County Register and its Freedom Communications parent and it's sure to generate comments–from those doing the infighting. Our Publisher to Register Employees: Let Them Eat Hawaiian Bread, March 9, drew a respectable eight comments. Source Says Furloughs Will Be Forced on Register Employees, March 12, got another six. A dozen more chimed in on Insiders Take Potshots at Freedom Communications, April 24.

But Battle Between Register Execs and Peons Takes a Spanish Turn has been the gift that keeps giving since its April 16 debut, offering a conversation in the comments section that continued as of an hour ago. There have been 35 comments there in all, which–no–are not Armenian genocide or Nick Adenhart numbers. But it's the quality of the discussion, the twists it has taken over the last month and the insights it provides on the Reg/Freedom exec/associate mindset that has proven delicious. It may even be providing some news, if the rumor about Freedom president and CEO Scott Flanders fleeing to Playboy magazine are true. We'll apparently find out when Freedom shareholders meet Thursday.

To get you up to speed on the Battle back-and-forth, the current thread concerns whether members of the family of Santa Ana Register founder R.C. Hoiles who have retained ownership shares in Freedom Communications care about employees, also known as “associates.” Poor spelling, grammar and uppercase/lowercase infractions are left intact for authenticity.
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“How one can blame the family just amazes me,” sportsbook wrote on May
2. “The Hoiles family who brought in Blackstone in order to buy out
disgruntled family members, many of them didn't take ONE dollar off the
table. Now, like the rest of the industry, mind you, they owe more then
the co. is worth. If they fire Scott,
they will still have to pay him, via his contract. No one has the
answers…there are no buyers out there, the co. is going to go under
eventually, and sadly its because the family thought too much about
'the associates.' Had they been smart they would have just sold the
whole thing and been set for life. Or at least done an IPO and taken
some cash off the table. Don't be surprised if this paper fails and
declares bankruptcy…..I feel sorry for them.”

Tarp disagrees: “What!!!!!!! family caring about the
associates??????????? Those trust fund babies could care less about the
associates.”

RC Hoiles, the most prolific commenter out of Arizona, agrees with Tarp: “Yeah, as if…Tim Hoiles
ever cared about the guy and gal working the late shift in the
mailroom. All he cared about was his Harley and his parent's bank
account.”

Later:

“Who says Freedom's esteemed leader Scott Flanders doesn't have BALLS.
Even with his company in free fall and his top execs unaware that three
of its daily newspapers are changing format from broadsheet to tabloid
and as he shamelessly darts off to board meetings to tell other
companies how to run their enterprise, (as if…) he jets into the
nation's second largest pork producing state at the height of the
pan-epidemic swine flu scare to admonish some publishers and regional
presidents starting with Miss Piggy herself, Jennie Lambert. You go,
Scotty.”

Prez Obama concurs: “RC: Scotty can fix everything, just ask him. He
will cure the flu epidemic, cure world hunger, and invent a cure for
the common cold. He is super man!!!!!!!!!! But first, he needs to
finish running Freedom into ground with this 'tranformation' process.
Guess we know know what that means now. Who would have guessed? Hey,
where are those family board members…. did Scotty lay them off too?”

davey threshire wonders why all the complaints about Flanders, who
threshie claims is “set to be named CEO of Playboy very soon.
Seriously. He'll be gone and he'll take one of his cronies with him.”

hef asks: “Is that the naked truth you speak about scotty? I guess he
will 'lay' some of the bunnies off there also as he transforms playboy.
Another publication will go into the rabbit hole.”

harry hoiles sums things up: “Lets see, the DarkBoulder boys let Scotty
sacrifice Columbia House to the Internets. Then the DarkBoulder boys
gave him Freedom to sacrifice to the Internets. Now they will give him
an opportunity at the only business model that works on the Internets;
adult content. Let's see if he can ruin Playboy in a proven business
model! Just how many lives does Scotty have?”

tim hoyles on May 6 advised to “Watch for announcement about Scotty and Playboy after Freedom board meeting next week.”

[Reality check: One would have thought Playboy Enterprises would have announced
that today, when interim chairman and CEO Jerome Kern–who has been at
the helm since Christie Hefner departed in January–announced amid deep
readership and advertising declines Playboy magazine is contemplating
“radical changes” that
may include cutting its circulation and reducing the frequency with
which it is published, while rolling out a new redesign in the June
edition aimed at bringing a “younger and fresher look to the
magazine.” Or perhaps it is proper to await an announcement from the company one is departing.]

sportsbook confirms an earlier ill thought about Tim Hoiles–the real
Tim Hoiles as opposed to the blog commenter tim hoyles: “You are right
about Tim…..it was he who forced the issue, and wanted
liquidity…dividends weren't good enough apparently…he and his
'side' cashed out, much of the family took very little off the
table….because of concern for the associates in fact, and now they
have nothing….it is quite sad actually.”

But that raises this question to sportsbook from bob seegal: “How do
you know the remaining family members didn't cash in much because of
their concern for associates? Might it have been their desire to keep
their dividends flowing and maintain the libertarian philosophy? I've
never seen much concern for the associates. If they cared that much,
they would have prevented all the layoffs.”

kennedy family members also doubt the existence of Hoiles family
concern for associates: “Concerns for the associates + Hoiles family
does not equal concern for associates. They could care less about
associates, it ALL ABOUT THE MONEY for those trust fund baby's. What a
joke!”

The back-and-forth has heated up in the comments section this week.
From Karen J on Sunday: “How a company that owes 700 million, yet is
worth 200 million is going to avoid layoffs is beyond my managerial
experience. How one can blame a family that isn't even involved is
crazy talk. The issue here is newspapers are done. This paper used to
be a bright star in a big muck of So. Cal. Newspapers….sadly that is
not the case any longer. I will be shocked if Scott announces anything
after the board meeting re: Playboy. How did you come to this info?
Lastly, I know someone who is close to one of the family members, and
they have not had an income in a year, many of them are outraged at the
lack of control they now have over what happens at Freedom, but are
unable to do anything…how one measly shareholder can stand up to
Blackstone or Mgmt that has shown to be non-family friendly is also
beyond me.”

hef fires back on Monday: “Family board members are asleep as usual and the family sold interest
to a privtae equity firm. You cannot tell me they have nothing to do
with whats going on now. Just because they had $$$$$$ in there
sights…. its all about money!!!!! And BOO HOO about them not having
any income. If they were not greedy and had to have mo money, they
should not have invited blackstone to take over their control. But
wait, doesnt the family have 51% interest??? Guess they aint too bright
to let this happen. BOO HOO family, let me get you more tissue…what a
joke….”

rc hoiles concurs the same day: “But they seem to have money to burn so
that regional presidents like Miss Piggy from Gastonia can fly out to
Irvine on the company dime to celebrate Segal's 60th BD this Thursday!
all the while the folks in Yuma are required to use left over newsprint
as paper towels in their lavatories.”

That's gross. Sportsbook offers a correction today: “I think J. Lambert
is being flown out to attend the board meeting on Thurs. Jon's party is
not on the company dime, and it's fri. pm. Yuma information is once
again exagerated.”

Maybe, but you're not discounting the dirty newsprint paper towels, are
you Sportsbook? Meanwhile, tim hoyles sticks to his scoop: “Alrighty,
Karen j. Stand by to be shocked with the Flanders Playboy announcement.
You can count the days maybe even the hours. As for the family control
they have board members including the chairman. Maybe they have been
misled by management and weren't smart enough to see it.”

hef offers another possibility: “maybe flanders is apperaring in playby, not running it. Anyways, Gordon Geckio was right…..”

That would be a “radical change” for Playboy–as would hef's use of spellcheck.

Finally, clueless family just an hour ago offers a secret to future
Freedom success: “if the family were smart they would just concentrate
on printing (which can still be profitable) and NOT news/information.
newspapers are dying, no doubt, and i seriously doubt they can make any
money from the internet, but PRINTING is not. But i'm sure they are
unable (out of stupidity or contractual agreements) to separate the
two.”