Oh, Journal Register? Buh-Bye!

Fitz: In our latest podcast of Fitz & Jen Give You The Business, Jen and I talk about the disturbing lack of transparency among some publicly traded newspaper companies. We kinda pick on GateHouse Media and the bare-bones “plan” to stay on the NYSE Big Board, but we could just as well have referred to Journal Register Co., the penny stock that pulled out of SEC reporting not so long ago.

But there is an interesting SEC filing from Wednesday that I didn’t stumble upon until this morning, Jen. It was filed by Barrie R. Zesiger, the managing director of Zesiger Capital Group LLC in New York City. If the Zesiger name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because he was once by far the biggest single holder of Journal Register shares.

In its last SEC filing in June, Zesiger owned 8.1 million shares -- 20.6% of outstanding stock. Now he tells the SEC he owns just 965,000 shares, a stake of only 2.5%.

You can’t tell from the filing what price Zesiger got on the way out, but here’s a couple of illustrative numbers: Back on June 30 -- when JRCO had already been kicked out of the NYSE for a stock price consistently lower than a buck -- his 8.1 million shares were valued at $1,459,242.

This morning before markets opened, Zesiger’s remaining 965,000 shares are worth $9,650.