Good day and welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Friday, May 27. Bankrupt cable network Black News Channel has lined up the owner of Ebony magazine as a potential buyer to avoid a total shutdown. A judge appointed a trustee overseeing Williamsburg Hotel's bankruptcy, saying the owners can't be trusted. And Alpha Latam was granted permission to investigate a lender to its Mexican affiliate for alleged wrongdoing. 

Note to readers: The Daily Briefing won't be published on Monday in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. We will return on Tuesday.

Ebony magazine owner nears deal to buy bankrupt Black News Channel. The owner of Ebony magazine is nearing a deal to acquire Black News Channel LLC out of bankruptcy, a proposal that could revive the cable news network meant to provide Black Americans’ perspective on current events after it shut down abruptly earlier this year.

Lawyers for Black News Channel said in papers filed Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tallahassee, Fla., that they are close to designating an affiliate of Ebony Media as the stalking-horse bidder for its assets and asked the judge overseeing the chapter 11 case for more time to finalize the agreement.

Stalking-horse deals are common in chapter 11 and would set the floor price for Black News Channel’s assets ahead of a potential bankruptcy auction. The offer by Ebony Studios LLC, which is owned by former NBA player Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman, would be subject to better offers should any materialize in the coming weeks.

Williamsburg Hotel’s developers lose control to chapter 11 trustee. A bankruptcy judge installed a chapter 11 trustee to oversee the bankrupt Williamsburg Hotel, wresting control from its owner-developers after finding they had used the Brooklyn property’s funds on other unrelated investments.

Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., ruled after a three-day trial that developers Toby Moskovits and Michael Lichtenstein can’t be trusted to continue running the hotel operation and that an independent trustee should be installed to protect the business and its creditors.

Mortgage lender Benefit Street Partners LLC had requested the appointment of a trustee in the bankruptcy case of the 147-room hotel, following reports by a court-appointed examiner that Ms. Moskovits and Mr. Lichtenstein siphoned off cash from the business, which they deny.

The judge’s ruling snarls the developers’ efforts to end the hotel’s bankruptcy by restructuring its mortgage debt and pumping in $11 million in capital to retain their ownership interests.

Alpha Latam gets bankruptcy court nod to get data from Mexican unit’s lender. Alpha Latam Management, which restructured its Colombian lending operations in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court, got approval to try to find out more about the actions of a lender it says is jeopardizing an affiliate in a Mexican bankruptcy.

Alpha Latam sought U.S. bankruptcy court permission to seek answers from Alloy Merchant Finance, an unsecured lender to the Mexican affiliate. That Mexican affiliate also owes $25 million to a secured lender of Alpha Latam. Alloy said Alpha Latam shouldn’t be allowed to use a U.S. court to litigate a dispute ongoing in a Mexican court. Judge Kate Stickles ruled Wednesday that Alpha Latam could do the discovery, which could benefit its own creditors. She said the document discovery won’t be unduly burdensome for Alloy. – Becky Yerak

Black News Channel, 10 a.m. ET: Bankruptcy Judge Kate Stickles hears the extension motion for the cable news network to enter into an exclusive agreement with stalking horse bid Ebony Media Group. The network shut down in March followed by a chapter 11 filing citing challenging market conditions. 

USA Gymnastics struggled to find a coach, so it hired three. After a fraught search for a coach who could lead the American women’s gymnastics team out of the most turbulent period in the sport’s history, USA Gymnastics has come up with an unusual approach: a three-person committee.

USA Gymnastics said Thursday that two 2008 Olympians, Alicia Sacramone Quinn and Chellsie Memmel, had been hired as “strategic lead” and “technical lead” respectively, working with the existing elite women’s development coordinator Dan Baker, now dubbed “developmental lead.”

The novel structure replaces the role of women’s national team coordinator, which was held most prominently by Martha Karolyi until 2016, and then Valeri Liukin and Tom Forster.

USA Gymnastics is attempting one of the biggest turnaround campaigns in sports after reaching an unprecedented settlement with abuse survivors at the end of 2021.

Davos elite can’t agree about the economy and neither can markets. Usually the Davos crowd herds together on markets and the economy at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The “Davos consensus” can be a useful contrarian indicator since it is often entirely wrong. But there isn’t a consensus this year, which helps explain the jumbled state of markets.

The S&P 500 is almost in a bear market. Yet there’s no agreement on whether recession is on the way. The problem as many executives describe it: Current business is great, but the difficulties ahead are obvious.

This division helps explain why the business and banking leaders at the elite mountain gathering have such different views. Those focused on strong consumer-spending data—including Bank of America chief Brian Moynihan —pooh-pooh the idea of recession. Those looking at the storm clouds in the distance are really concerned.

Teva, Allergan reach $161.5 million opioid settlement with West Virginia. (Reuters)

Biden’s new student loan forgiveness changes may wind up costing some borrowers. (Forbes)

Share your tips, suggestions and feedback with the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy team: Soma Biswas; Alexander Gladstone; Jodi Xu Klein; Akiko Matsuda; Jonathan Randles; Alexander Saeedy; Andrew Scurria; Becky Yerak. 

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