I think he's sugar-coating it because their bonds are about to go up for sale. From the article:

While equity investors have reportedly slashed the value of their stakes by as much as 78 percent, the Journal reports, “banks hope to sell senior debt at 90-95 cents on the dollar, while retaining more-junior holdings.”

If they were breaking even, the bonds wouldn't be getting sold at a loss. Keep in mind, the bond holders get paid before the stock holding investors, so if they're taking a loss, the equity investors are getting nothing (hence the 78 percent cut, basically their share is only worth the odds of a miraculous turnaround). That doesn't happen with a company unless it's losing money.

At absolute best it's breaking even before debt service.

Maybe he's still not just paying rent on some buildings and miraculously hasn't been kicked out yet