The investors seeking to buy a majority of MaineTodayMedia – publisher of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel – demanded fifty changes to the contract before they would agree to the purchase.

Today, the Portland Newspaper Guild rejected those changes, so the 2100 Trust will not be making its purchase.

Without the infusion of money, the company faces bankruptcy. MaineToday Media is $7.6 million in debt, reports Al Diamon.

Some sources told Diamon that bankruptcy might be a preferred option to the deal, which wasn’t guaranteed to keep the company out of bankruptcy anyway. But Guild president Tom Bell denies that:
“We have no illusions about bankruptcy,” Bell said. Bankruptcy is not a good place for us. We understand that.”