RH Donnelley announced their filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, becoming the latest in a string of print publishers to do so.  

For me, however, this one is a little different as I worked for RHD for several years.  The tone of CEO Dave Swanson’s message was perhaps the most surprising part of this all:

I understand that filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy may cause concern on your part, but I want to

assure you that this action is being taken primarily to restructure our balance sheet, and we

do not anticipate any impact on our business operations. While this difficult economy has

caused us to rethink our capital structure, R.H. Donnelley’s operations remain vibrant and

strong, and through the motions filed with the Bankruptcy Court, we have taken steps to

ensure that there will be no change in support, service or business operations. Simply put, it

will be business as usual at R.H. Donnelley throughout this process.

I have never myself been through bankruptcy, and thankfully have never worked for a company who has while I was employed there.  But, it does strike me as off that the tone of this email seems to spit in the face of the investors/lenders who are going to lose out because of this.  It does seem to say “our company is fine, we just owe a lot of money we can’t afford to pay back” and “we aren’t going to change anything around here, business as usual”.  

RHD, forgive me for my disallegiance, but “business as usual” is one of the things that got you into this mess in the first place.  I think a massive shakeup is in order, at least some corporate restructuring to go along with the debt restructuring.

Just one man’s opinion.