Ambassador Media has filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York’s Southern District. The publisher, which operates in the five boroughs of New York City and surrounding areas, published nine directory titles in 2008 with distribution, we estimate, of 3.5 million copies. Ambassador  relaunched its IYP platform via Canpages’ ImmersiFind platform in spring 2009 and is also a Google AdWords reseller.

Ambassador, which The Kelsey Group estimates had 2008 revenues in the US$20 million range, is the third U.S. publisher to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection recently, following Idearc Media’s filing in March and R.H. Donnelley’s filing in May. As many other publishers are reporting their difficulties in operating in large markets, we believe too that Ambassador is suffering from those large market challenges. Ambassador’s exposure is a bit greater than other publishers in that it operates solely in New York City, the largest metro in the country.