Company behind US Family Tree magazine files for bankruptcy

There's an extraordinary situation unfolding just now in the United States, detailed by Roberta Estes on her blog at https://dna-explained.com/2019/03/19/family-tree-magazine-and-family-tree-university-files-bankruptcy/.

New York based F&W Media, the firm behind the US based magazine Family Tree (not affiliated to the UK magazine of the same name), and its Family Tree University, has filed for bankruptcy, leaving many contributors unpaid. According to Roberta, when the firm made its application to the Court, "The court was provided with a list of creditors 542 pages in length, with 30 names per page, for a whopping total of 16,260 people or companies that they owe money."

The full story is outlined in Roberta's blog post, and also by Forbes magazine at https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonysilber/2019/03/11/fw-media-citing-debt-decline-and-mismanagement-files-for-bankruptcy-protection/#205649d84355.

Here's hoping that all who are owed money are paid in due course. There may be many free resources available online, but professional genealogists are not charities, and deserve to be paid as much as any other profession. And for those who worked on the editorial side of things, I suspect this is as big a shock for them - here's hoping they successfully find alternative work.

(With thanks to Roberta for sharing)

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.