Brian Tierney

Brian Tierney, the area advertising executive who most recently was vice chairman of Advanta Corp., wants to get back into business - business magazines. Tierney said in an interview yesterday that he and two other investors would bid for Inc. and Fast Company magazines by Monday. Tierney, founder of Tierney Communications and T2 Group, did not disclose financial details. He said, however, that if he and the other investors - J. Brian O'Neill, chairman of O'Neill Properties Group, of King of Prussia, and Strattech Partners, a venture-capital firm in Radnor - could acquire the two national business magazines, they would create a company to leverage the Inc. and Fast Company brands to provide educational services to small businesses.

Stung by community opposition, a pun-inspired Brian Tierney, chief of the company that owns The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, said yesterday that he would no longer seek city permission to allow the placement of a giant inflatable bee and banners on the Inquirer and Daily News Building to advertise a Jerry Seinfeld movie. "I wish to end all of the buzz by announcing that our effort to seek a zoning variance is not meant to bee," Tierney said in a statement. "This lighthearted and fun effort was intended to support our city's growing movie industry, to gain some national visibility for our city, and to put a smile on people's faces as they passed by this giant inflatable bee and banner," said Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C.

Bruce Toll, a founder and major shareholder in luxury-home-builder Toll Bros. Inc., said yesterday that he is the "lead investor" in a homegrown group that wants to buy The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. "It's a wonderful institution, and it's been around forever, and I would love to be part of it," Toll said yesterday. Brian Tierney, a Philadelphia advertising and marketing specialist, said he and Toll have enlisted prominent Philadelphia business owners to join in a bid. Toll also owns car dealerships and other businesses.

OKAY, ALL you faithful letter writers and readers. Have you noticed the obvious difference in the type, tone and names of the people whose letters are being published since Brian Tierney & Co. took over? He stopped the biased editors dead in their tracks. (Ha!) Rejoice, comrades - things are going back to the way they were. Hope to see all your letters again, soon! Joseph Carey Philadelphia

SO THE Daily News editorial board wants the property-tax system changed. When Brian Tierney, Bruce Toll, Mark Frisby and, I guess, a great percentage of the rest of management move into the city, then you'll get the right to ask. I've lived and raised my family here. You work hard to improve your home so the city should get a piece of what you worked hard to get? I don't think so. For my taxes, I get trash pick up, and that's about it. Yo, Brian, there's a house on my block for sale.

Mark J. Frisby, publisher of Gannett Co. Inc.'s Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, has been named executive vice president for production, labor and purchasing at Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., which publishes The Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. Frisby, a Paulsboro native who rose through the ranks at a series of Gannett's New Jersey papers, "has tremendous cost-management skills," Philadelphia Media chief executive officer Brian Tierney said. The appointment was effective immediately.

Brian Tierney has dropped his bid for Inc. and Fast Company magazines. The Philadelphia advertising executive said in an interview yesterday that he started negotiating with AdMedia Partners Inc., the broker representing the magazines' publisher, Gruner & Jahr USA, Monday night, after he submitted his bid, and ended discussions yesterday afternoon. He would not say why. Tierney bid for the business magazines with area investors J. Brian O'Neill, chairman of O'Neill Properties Group, of King of Prussia, and Strattech Partners, a venture-capital firm in Radnor.

Brian Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., has taken the publisher's title at The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. PMH bought the properties in June. Tierney said he decided not to hire a replacement for Joe Natoli, who announced Aug. 1 that he was resigning to join the University of Miami as senior vice president of business and finance. Before buying the papers, Tierney and other investors signed a pledge that "no member shall attempt to influence or interfere with the editorial policies or decisions of the publisher.

Brian Tierney, founder and chairman of Tierney Communications, told his staff yesterday that he was stepping down to start a rival firm. His new venture, the T2 Group, has two employees, offices in Center City, and a fledgling roster drawn partly from the list of Tierney Communications clients. Because the name "Tierney Communications" belongs to Interpublic Group of Companies, a global marketing firm, Tierney named his firm T2 to stand for his second business venture. The company will specialize in public relations and crisis management but not advertising.

WE ASKED a number of influential folks what their expectations were of the new local owners of the Daily News , Inquirer and philly.com. *  "Too many people who ran the newspapers knew nothing about the rhythms of the region. I hope [the new owners] can change the flavor of the papers and reconnect with the people in our communities. " - JERRY MONDESIRE, head of the Philadelphia NAACP *  "It's wonderful that people feel a civic duty to invest in journalism, but there are a lot of things to be nervous about . . . There's so much baggage that comes with each of these people.

DURING his spiritually soaring Mass of Installation yesterday, Philadelphia's down-to-earth new archbishop took time to say that he knows things are less than heavenly here at the moment. "This Church in Philadelphia faces very serious challenges these days," said Archbishop Charles Chaput, who takes over a diocese reeling from charges of priests sexually abusing children while the church hierarchy covered up the crimes. "There's no quick fix to problems that are so difficult, and none of us here today, except the Lord Himself, is a miracle worker," Chaput said at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul.

The 18-floor office tower that is home to The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and philly.com is inching closer to sale. Philadelphia Media Network, owner of the two daily newspapers and the online portal, is reviewing an unspecified number of bids for the 526,000-square-foot building at 400 N. Broad St. Mark Block, PMN's vice president for external affairs, said Thursday a decision "based on the best offer" would be forthcoming "sooner rather...

The 18-floor office tower that houses The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and philly.com is up for sale for the second time in nearly four years. Philadelphia Media Network Inc., owner of the two daily newspapers and online portal, has retained the Center City real estate brokerage Binswanger to handle the sale of the 526,000-square-foot building, at 400 N. Broad St. Bids on the building, as well as the five-level, 502-space parking garage at 15th and Callowhill Streets and adjacent 200-space surface lot, are due by 4 p.m. June 27, according to bidding instructions on a Binswanger website.

A coalition of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C.'s largest debtholders has again won ownership of The Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com. The group of senior lenders, 16 financial institutions including Angelo, Gordon & Co., Alden Global Capital and Credit Suisse, submitted the winning bid of $105 million in cash today at an auction conducted before Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Raslavich here. Once again, the senior lenders group outbid a challenge - it started at $50 million and then was increased to $85 million - by local investors Raymond Perelman, businessman and philanthropist, and the Carpenters Union pension fund.

A coalition of The Inquirer's largest debt holders and a partnership of local businessman Raymond G. Perelman and the Carpenters Union pension fund emerged Wednesday as the only two bidders for the newspaper company. Both groups submitted initial bids by Wednesday's noon deadline. It is not known how much either offered, but a minimum bid of $50 million was required. Bidders also had to put up at least $7.5 million as a cash deposit. An auction is set for 10 a.m. Thursday in federal Bankruptcy Court here to determine who will take control of Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C.

Brian Tierney has agreed to step down as chief executive of the company that owns the Daily News , Inquirer and philly.com on May 21. . He will remain as publisher of the Inquirer until the bankrupt company is officially sold to its prospective owners and will be available to consult with the new owners "as needed," according to a statement released yesterday on behalf of Tierney. Yesterday's agreement resolved differences between Tierney and the papers' incoming owners that had threatened to torpedo a peaceful transition until ownership officially changes hands.

THE DAILY NEWS and Inquirer have been sold to the group of senior lenders that had been trying to wrest control of the two papers from Brian Tierney and other local investors who bought the papers (and philly.com) for $515 million in 2006. Tierney and company filed for bankruptcy reorganization in February 2009. What the sale actually means - for the papers, its employees, for the city and region, as well as for the newspaper industry - remains to be seen. Those answers will unfold over the next few months.

Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C.'s bankruptcy auction remains scheduled for April 27. A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has rejected a request from the company's senior lenders to delay the auction until the full Third Circuit Court decides if it will hear an appeal of a key issue in the bankruptcy case. The same panel announced Wednesday that the lenders' request for a full hearing would be given "expedited consideration. " Lawrence G. McMichael, attorney for the company, said he was delighted with the ruling denying the stay.

Today marks a year since the parent company of the Daily News , the Inquirer and philly.com filed for bankruptcy - and no end is in sight to what sometimes has been a brass-knuckles brawl to control the leading news organization in the nation's sixth-largest city. But the man at the center of this newspaper snowmageddon, Philadelphia Media Holdings' embattled chief executive, Brian Tierney, said in an interview that although he's frustrated by the delays, he also is excited by the fight.