He signaled that his company’s primary aim in bankruptcy would be to seek concessions from the consortium of banks that hold its debt, not from the papers’ labor unions. “This restructuring is focused solely on our debt, not our operations,” he said.

The company has been negotiating for the better part of a year with the banks, led by Citizens Bank. It had not been in compliance with its debt covenants since mid-2008, and it suspended payment on the debt last fall. Most recently, executives of Philadelphia Media said the original investors offered to put $25 million into the company, but a meeting with the banks on Friday produced no resolution.

The sale of the Philadelphia papers was one of a flurry of deals made in the two years before the recession began, with buyers — many of whom had no background in the field — paying prices for newspapers that were called exorbitant even at the time. Revenue for most newspapers has dropped more than 20 percent since then, leaving the new owners struggling with debt.

The Tribune Company, which was taken private in December 2007 by Sam Zell, a real estate mogul, filed for bankruptcy less than a year later. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, bought in late 2006 by Avista Capital Partners, a private equity firm, filed for bankruptcy last month. (The Journal Register Company, which was not part of the buying spree of a few years ago, filed for bankruptcy on Saturday.)

The McClatchy Company bought the Knight Ridder chain in 2006, and has struggled with the debt from that deal. McClatchy quickly sold some of its papers, including those in Philadelphia and Minneapolis.