what newspapers does alden global capital own
We were in collective revolt, Lillian Reed, a Sun reporter who helped organize the campaign, told me. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital will acquire the rest of what it does not already own of Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and other local newspapers, in a . The details of how Smith got to know him are opaque, but the resulting loyalty was evident. When Alden first got into the news business, Freeman seemed willing to indulge some innovation. Those that have survived are smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable to acquisition. The Tribune Tower rises above the streets of downtown Chicago in a majestic snarl of Gothic spires and flying buttresses that were designed to exude power and prestige. Tribune Publishing, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, has agreed to be acquired by Alden Global Capital in a deal valued at $630 million . But he couldnt help feeling that the police scandal would have been exposed much sooner if the Sun were operating at full force. If you went into a lab to create the perfect bro, Heath would be that creation, says one former executive at an Alden-owned company, who, like others in this story, requested anonymity to speak candidly. The rationale offered by the board was, Consistent with its fiduciary duties, Lees Board has taken this action to ensure our shareholders receive fair treatment, full transparency and protection in connection with Aldens unsolicited proposal to acquire Lee. It has not, however, retained the Chicago Tribune. But if you really started fucking up in grandiose and belligerent ways, if you started stealing and grifting and lying, eventually somebody would come up behind you and say, Youre grifting and youre lying and theyd put it in the paper., The bad stuff runs for so long now, he went on, that by the time you get to it, institutions are irreparable, or damn near close., Take away the newsroom packed with meddling reporters, and a city loses a crucial layer of accountability. [14], Alden has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers. Nov. 22, 2021. There were sober op-eds and lamentations on Twitter and expressions of disappointment by professors of journalism. This was the core of Freemans argument. Smith, a reclusive Palm Beach septuagenarian, hasnt granted a press interview since the 1980s. These papers would have been liquidated if not for us stepping up.. It makes me profoundly sad to think about what the Trib was, what it is, and what its likely to become, says David Axelrod, who was a reporter at the paper before becoming an adviser to Barack Obama. . Who is investor Randall Smith and why is he buying up newspaper companies, deep losses to Alden funds overall values, Denver Post newsroom workers invoke Thirst Amendment to raise awareness about conditions under Alden, Pittsburgh newspaper workers are making history, The NewsGuild urges public pension funds to divest from Cerberus, NewsGuild to Lee Shareholders: Reject Aldens Vote No Campaign. Longtime Tribune staffers had seen their share of bad corporate overlords, but this felt more calculated, more sinister. He can cite decades-old scoops and tell you whom they pissed off. Theres no industry that I can think of more integral to a working democracy than the local-news business, he said. By that point, Alden was widely known as the grim reaper of American newspapers, as Vanity Fair had put it, and news of the acquisition plans had unleashed a wave of panic across the industry. It felt important. He stops talking to the press, refuses to be photographed, and rarely appears in public. It is the nations second-largest newspaper owner by circulation. When The New York Times profiles him in 1991, it notes that he excels at profiting from other peoples misery and quotes a parade of disgruntled clients and partners. A native of Vallejo, he was proud to work for his hometown paper. [4], In 2019, Alden attempted, but failed at, a hostile takeover of Gannett. But he has a big idea: He believes theres serious money to be made in buying troubled companies, steering them into bankruptcy, and then selling them off in parts. Chicago-based Tribune Publishing on Tuesday announced a proposed sale to hedge fund Alden Global Capital in a deal valued at $630 million. The newsroom was moved to a single room rented from the local chamber of commerce. The term vulture capitalism hasnt been invented yet, but Randy will come to be known as a pioneer in the field. Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for gutting local newsrooms, is seeking to buy Lee Enterprises (LEE), a publicly traded company with a chain of daily newspapers and other publications . Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you . All good works, and Knight is to be commended for them. On Monday, Dail At the time, the Sun had a bustling bureau in Annapolis, and he marveled at the reporters ability to sort the honest politicians from the political whores by exposing abuses of power. But it turned out that Smith had so many doorsteps16 mansions in Palm Beach alone, as of a few years ago, some of them behind gatesthat the plan proved impractical. "[26] Shortly thereafter, Alden Global, through its operating unit Strategic Investment Opportunities, filed a lawsuit in state court in Delaware against Lee Enterprises. Its a hedge that went and bought up some titles that it milks for cash.. Or to Denver, where the Posts staff was cut by two-thirds, evicted from its newsroom, and relocated to a plant in an area with poor air quality, where some employees developed breathing problems. 'Sobs, gasps, expletives' over latest Denver Post layoffs", "The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the Chicago Tribune by the Throat", "How Massive Cuts Have Remade The Denver Post", "Newsonomics: By selling to Americas worst newspaper owners, Michael Ferro ushers the vultures into Tribune", "A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms", "Affiliated Media Files for Bankruptcy to Restructure (Update2)", "The shakeup at MediaNews: Why it could be the leadup to a massive newspaper consolidation", "Alden Global Capital to buy Tribune in deal valued at $630 million", "Lee Enterprises Enacts Poison Pill to Guard Against Alden Takeover", "Lee Enterprises Board Rejects Alden's Acquisition Offer", "Alden Global Capital takes Lee Enterprises to court over failed board nominations", "Alden Global Capital sues Lee Enterprises after rejected takeover bid", "Alden Global Capital loses lawsuit to nominate its slate of candidates for Lee Enterprises' board", "Lee Enterprises shareholders reelect three directors amid hedge fund fight", "Tampa Bay Times sells printing plant to developer for $21 million", "A hedge fund's 'mercenary' strategy: Buy newspapers, slash jobs, sell the buildings", "The hedge fund trying to buy Gannett faces federal probe after investing newspaper workers' pensions in its own funds", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alden_Global_Capital&oldid=1130942589, This page was last edited on 1 January 2023, at 19:27. At the time, finalternatives.com reported that the Global Distress Opportunities fund would focus on financial firms as well as homebuilding, gaming and auto-related names.. As a reporter whos covered Alden Global Capital for more than two years, people often ask me who are the investors behind the hedge fund that owns one of Americas largest newspaper chains? Reading these stories now has a certain horror-movie quality: You want to somehow warn the unwitting victims of whats about to happen. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, one of the country's largest newspaper owners with a reputation for intense cost cuts and layoffs, has offered to buy the local newspaper chain Lee Enterprises for about $141 million. In my many conversations with people who have worked with Freeman, not one could recall seeing him read a newspaper. Im worried the worst is yet to come. It . If they did it right, Venetoulis said, they just might be able to line up a local, civic-minded owner for the paper. The newspaper lost a quarter of its staff to buyouts after it was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May. The most promising prospect materialized in Baltimore, where a hotel magnate named Stewart Bainum Jr. expressed interest in the Sun. [21], Under the acquisition plan, MediaNews Group debt fell to $165 million from about $930 million. Unless the Tribunes trajectory changes, Chicago may soon provide a grim case study. Smith & Company, a firm founded by Randall Duncan Smith, initially using the $20,000 cash prize he and his wife won on the 1968-1970 gameshow Dream House. Misinformation proliferates. Shareholders of Tribune Publishing, one of the country's largest newspaper chains, on Friday approved a takeover by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. Alden Global Capital already had a 32% stake in Tribune Publishing, which owns famous names like the Tribune, Daily News, the Hartford Courant and others, and on Tuesday announced it would pay . Several years later, when Heath was still in his mid-20s, Smith co-founded Alden Global Capital with him, and eventually put him in charge of the firm. But as long as Alden had made back its money, the investment would be a success. At the same time, he increased subscription prices in many markets; it would take awhile for subscribersmany of them older loyalists who didnt carefully track their billsto notice that they were paying more for a worse product. But beneath all the recriminations and infighting was a cruel reality: When faced with the likely decimation of the countrys largest local newspapers, most Americans didnt seem to care very much. Shares of Lee Enterprises Inc. rose sharply Monday after hedge fund Alden Global Capital LLC offered to buy the newspaper publisher for about $141 million. While some finance reporters noted that Smiths newspaper investments were all losing value, none seemed to notice that Smith and Aldens president Heath Freeman would soon start strip mining their news companies real estate and other assets. The specific shareholder rights plan adopted by the Lee board forbids Alden from purchasing more than 10% of the company, and will be in force for one year. Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that this year became the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, has made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises, the media company that owns 75 daily newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The men who devised this model are Randall Smith and Heath Freeman, the co-founders of Alden Global Capital. New York hedge fund and U.S. newspaper consolidator Alden Global Capital LLC has made a proposal to take Lee Enterprises Inc. private in a deal that values the company at around $141 million. At the Pioneer Press , where its staff is down to 60, the paper produced a . Through it all, the owners maintained their ruthless silencespurning interview requests and declining to articulate their plans for the paper. But the group that jumps out to me on the list is the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ", "Denver Post Rebels Against Its Hedge-Fund Ownership", "Tribune Says Sale to Alden Wins Approval Amid Confusion Over Key Shareholder's Vote", "Lee Enterprises Shares Jump on Takeover Offer From Alden", "The vulture is hungry again: Alden Global Capital wants to buy a few hundred more newspapers", "Colorado Group Pushes to Buy Embattled Denver Post From New York Hedge Fund", "The battle for Tribune: Inside the campaign to find new owners for a legendary group of newspapers", "Is this strip-mining or journalism? But in the case of local news, nothing comparable is ready to replace these papers when they die. "[18], Alden received critical coverage from the editorial staff at the Denver Post, who described Alden Global Capital as "vulture capitalists" after multiple staff layoffs. . The shows premise pits two couples against each other for the chance to win a home. [29] This attempt also failed, as shareholders returned both directors to the Lee board despite Alden's opposition. Theres little evidence that Alden cares about the sustainability of its newspapers. In February 2021, he announced a handshake deal to buy the Sun from Alden for $65 million once it acquired Tribune Publishing. 'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers, Stop The Presses! He took particular pride in finding novel ways to give away his family fortune, funding child-poverty initiatives in Baltimore and prenatal care for women in Liberia. Alden Global Capital revealed a proposal Monday to purchase Lee Enterprise Inc. and its newspapers at $24 a share, casting alarm through the many newsrooms owned by Lee. In the past 15 years, more than a quarter of American newspapers have gone out of business. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. Feb. 16, 2021 8:04 PM PT. It has figured out how to make a profit by driving newspapers into the ground, he says, since Alden's aim is not to make them into long-term sustainable businesses but rather maximize profits quickly to show it has made a winning investment. But years later, when Randy relocates to Palm Beach and becomes a major donor to Donald Trumps presidential campaign, it will make a certain amount of sense that his earliest known media investment was conceived as a giant middle finger to the journalistic establishment. We must finally require the online tech behemoths, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, to fairly compensate us for our original news content, he told me. But that would require slow, painstaking workand there are easier ways to make money. The best architects of the era were invited to submit designs; lofty quotes about the Fourth Estate were selected to adorn the lobby. Some of these papers likely would have been liquidated if the fund had not stepped in to buy them, as Alden's president told Coppins. With its acquisition of Tribune Publishing earlier this year, Alden now controls more than 200 newspapers, including some of the countrys most famous and influential: the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, the New York Daily News. [12] Lee owns daily newspapers in 77 markets in 26 states, and about 350 weekly and specialty publications. Alden is in the business of making money, not journalism. They had a father-figure relationship, one told me. And two, by at least 2013, those of us who worked at Alden-controlled papers (like me) were already experiencing the slashing and burning. By the charitys own accounting, it lost $ 2.3 million in book value on a $17 million investment that year. But by 2014, it was becoming clear to Aldens executives that Patons approach would be difficult to monetize in the short term, according to people familiar with the firms thinking. These were not exactly boom times for newspapers, after allat least someone wanted to buy them. About a month after The Baltimore Sun was acquired by Alden, a senior editor at the paper took questions from anxious reporters on Zoom. [33], Alden Global Capital's management of American newspapers has been criticized. Rapid-fire changes underway at newspapers sold to cost-slashing hedge fund Alden Global Capital have led to a profound case of the jitters at newsrooms like the New York Daily News. And that has consequences for democracy, as journalist McKay Coppins writes in The Atlantic. We dont hear from them Theyre, like, nameless, faceless people., In the months that followed, the Sun did not immediately experience the same deep staff cuts that other papers did. Another ex-publisher told me Freeman believed that local newspapers should be treated like any other commodity in an extractive business. (Freeman denied this through a spokesperson.) The 21st century has seen many of these generational owners flee the industry, to devastating effect. The largest share of the blame was assigned to the Tribune board for allowing the sale to Alden to go through. But most of them also had a stake in the communities their papers served, which meant that, if nothing else, their egos were wrapped up in putting out a respectable product. [22] The appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital. It financed the deal with the help of Cerberusa private-equity firm that owned, among other businesses, the security company that trained Saudi operatives who participated in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Meanwhile, reporters fanned out across their respective cities in search of benevolent rich people to buy their newspapers. It played with my mind a little bit, Glidden told me. [4][5] The company added more newspapers to its portfolio in May 2021 when it purchased Tribune Publishing and became the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States. You need real capital to move the needle, he told me. Some in the industry say they wouldnt be surprised if Smith and Freeman end up becoming the biggest newspaper moguls in U.S. history. Theyre being targeted by investors who have figured out how to get rich by strip-mining local-news outfits. When the Chicago Tribune held a Save Local News rally, most of the people who showed up were members of the media. Interestingly, Smiths foundation didnt do well with its Alden investments in 2016. Maybe theyd cancel their subscriptions eventually; maybe the papers would fold altogether. But Glidden felt sure he knew the real reason: Alden wanted him gone. After a contentious presidential race and amid a still-raging pandemic, there was a limited supply of outrage and sympathy to spare for local reporters. by Magnus Shaw..An enormous advertising company (Leo Burnett) and a small creative film company (Asylum) have had a difficult couple of weeks. When Simon called me, he was on the set of his new miniseries, We Own This City, which tells the true story of Baltimore cops who spent years running their own drug ring from inside the police department. Im repulsed by the incestuous world of New York journalism, he tells New York magazine.