The new board at the Reader’s Digest Association is already making some big changes at the top: CEO Mary Berner will be leaving RDA after four years in the job and will be replaced by Tom Williams, who is being promoted from his current role as CFO. In addition, Randall…

Reader’s Digest is expanding its health content and marketing offerings with an online/offline partnership with OrganizedWisdom, a company which aggregates news and info from “wellness experts.” The deal, which also includes sharing ad sales duties, comes nearly a year after the Reader’s Digest Association began rebuilding following its emergence from…

It’s been several months since the Reader’s Digest Association emerged from bankruptcy, the publisher is laying off 10 percent—roughly 270 positions—of its worldwide staff. In a memo obtained by Mediaweek, President/CEO Mary Berner said the job cuts are necessary to keep the company’s finances stable.

By Mark Sweney: Reader’s Digest UK has been bought by Better Capital, the private equity company backed by Jon Moulton, the Financial Times reported today. The UK edition of the magazine, which has been publishing for 72 years, was put into administration by its US parent company Reader’s Digest Association…

Shades of Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). Reader’s Digest Association is promoting a “pure-play’ digital exec to lead across platforms: Allrecipes.com President Lisa Sharples replaces Eva Dillon as president of the Reader’s Digest Community division, effective immediately. Sharples, who already oversees ReadersDigest.com, keeps her role at Seattle-based Allrecipes and adds…

After a series of delays, the Reader’s Digest Association has finally emerged from bankruptcy having reduced its debt by 75 percent, the company said. The publisher, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last August, has received $525 million in exit financing from a bond refinancing that will provide RDA with…

Venerable publishing institutions are not overlooked by the crosshairs of technological and economic disruption. Seventy-two years after its first edition, the Reader’s Digest’s UK edition, which bills itself as “the world’s favourite magazine’, has filed for administration, after failing to win government backing for a pension fund rescue plan. This…

A couple updates on the Reader’s Digest Association’s bankruptcy proceedings: The company is delaying its emergence from Chapter 11 temporarily “to address an issue involving the pension program” of its subsidiary in the U.K., according to a release. Reader’s Digest, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August, says it now…

Reader’s Digest, which is in the process of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorg process, will soon be unveiling a company name change, according to this long NYT profile of the struggling company trying to reinvent itself. Likely the new name and branding would be unveiled as the company comes out…

After little more than a year as publisher of Reader’s Digest,  Tracey Altman tells Min Online that she has been laid off. The company, which filed for bankruptcy in August, has been going through its latest reorg for the past few months. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the Reader’s…

In between announcing that it had most secured lenders on board for its packaged bankruptcy and actually filing, Reader’s Digest Association sold the venerable World Almanac imprint to Infobase Publishing. World Almanac, which dates back to 1868, was part of the Weekly Reader Publishing Group. No financial terms. The deal…

Reader’s Digest is serious about getting out of Ch 11 bankruptcy fast: it has secured approval of about 80 percent of its senior secured debt holders. This means that these lenders will exchange a substantial portion of RD’s $1.6 billion in senior secured debt for equity and will reduce the…

Day two of RD’s bankruptcy proceedings saga, and reactions are pouring in, most about how Ripplewood for sucker punched on the deal, mainly as a result of its own foolishness on the deal. Videos from Thomson Reuters (NSDQ: TRIN) and Jim Cramer, embedded below: First, an interview with Dan Primack,…

Reader’s Digest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier today, and some more details are coming out via a presentation it gave to its public lenders titled “The Faceplan: Fast Forward” (yes!). The gist of it: details of the bankruptcy exit plan, and the brand/company going forward; it also uses…

This had been brewing for a while: Reader’s Digest company has filed for a pre-arranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company was acquired for $1.6 billion by a consortium of investors, led by PE firm Ripplewood, in 2006. It hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis earlier this year to look at…

Much like the *Blockbuster* “false alarm” saga, Reader’s Digest Association is also denying vehemently that it is planning to file for a pre-packaged bankruptcy. The rumors came about after the media company hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to advise it on restructuring, and the news about it came out last…

Reader’s Digest Association Inc. has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to advise it on restructuring, Bloomberg News reports, citing a “person familiar with the situation.” According to Bloomberg, the privately held company based in Pleasantville, New York, wants Kirkland & Ellis to evaluate options that could include a pre-packaged bankruptcy.…

The march of bad news continues: The Readers Digest Association is slashing 8 percent of its 3,500-member workforce—roughly 280 jobs—and is taking several other tough measures designed to get costs under control as part of a “global recession plan,” the company announced. Saying it wants to avoid additional layoffs, the…