what newspapers does alden global capital own
what newspapers does alden global capital own
When the Smiths win, they pass on the house and take the cash prize insteada $20,000 haul that Randy will eventually use to seed a small trading firm he calls R.D. He had spoken on this issue before, and it was easy to see why. In the for-profit news arena, Knight is spurring the digital transformation of local newsrooms through the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, Sherry said. Instead, the money was used to finance the hedge funds other ventures. 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. 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. The most promising prospect materialized in Baltimore, where a hotel magnate named Stewart Bainum Jr. expressed interest in the Sun. You have no way of knowing that if you dont have some nosy son of a bitch asking a lot of questions down there, he told me. Heath Freeman, president of Alden Global Capital, is known for pushing big cost reductions, which he says help to save newspapers. Fears for future of American journalism as hedge funds flex power To David Simon, the whimpering end of The Baltimore Sun feels both inevitable and infuriating. California biotech billionaire and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns 24%, Aldens website contains no information beyond the firms name, and its list of investors is kept strictly confidential. He used his own money to pull court records, and went years without going on a vacation. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for Lee Enterprises newspaper To many, it just didnt seem possible that Alden would instead choose to destroy newspapers by laying off the workforce en masse and stripping papers of all their assets. On the surface, the answer might seem obvious. Spend some time around the shell-shocked journalists at the Tribune these days, and youll hear the same question over and over: How did it come to this? More to the point, Tribune Publishingwhich represents a substantial portion of Aldens titleswas profitable at the time of the acquisition. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, known for making deep newsroom cuts, won approval to acquire Tribune Publishing, which includes the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News. This once-proud publication is now owned and run by Alden Global Capital, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund with a long record of buying papers on the cheap, selling off their assets and slashing pay and jobs. That might sound like a losing formula, but these papers dont have to become sustainable businesses for Smith and Freeman to make money. It played with my mind a little bit, Glidden told me. Layout design was outsourced to freelancers in the Philippines. Shortly after the Tribune deal closed earlier this year, I began trying to interview the men behind Alden Capital. But for Simon, that paper exists entirely in the past. That may well be the future of local news, he says. Reading these stories now has a certain horror-movie quality: You want to somehow warn the unwitting victims of whats about to happen. 'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers, Stop The Presses! About a month after The Baltimore Sun was acquired by Alden, a senior editor at the paper took questions from anxious reporters on Zoom. And when Chicago suffered a brutal summer crime wave, the paper had no one on the night shift to listen to the police scanner. Lee, which owns the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Omaha World-Herald and many other daily newspapers throughout the region, is staving off a takeover attempt by Alden Global Capital, a New-York . With Alden in control, he believes the Sun is now a prisoner that stands little chance of escape. A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms. Of course, its easy to romanticize past eras of journalism. When lawmakers pressed for details last year on who funds Alden, the company replied that there may be certain legal entities and organizational structures formed outside of the United States.. But that would require slow, painstaking workand there are easier ways to make money. In truth, Freeman didnt seem particularly interested in defending Aldens reputation. Alden Global Capital aims to buy Lee Enterprises | The Gazette Glidden had heard rumblings about the papers owners when he first took the job, but he hadnt paid much attention. ", "The most feared owner in American journalism looks set to take some of its greatest assets", "Minority shareholder sues Denver Post parent and NY hedge fund over 'breaches of fiduciary duty', "What does the Chicago Tribune sale mean for the future of newsrooms? The Banner will launch with about 50 journalistsnot far from the size of the Sunand an ambitious mandate. When the sale failed to attract a sufficiently high offer, Freeman turned his attention to squeezing as much cash out of the newspapers as possible. [22] The appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital. The vulture is hungry again: Alden Global Capital wants to buy a few Alden Global Capital Is Killing the Newsroom - Common Dreams The Tribune Tower, the iconic former home of the Chicago Tribune, seen in Chicago, Illinois in 2015. Alden Global Capital has currently bid to buy all of Tribune. The bid by Alden Global Capital, which already owns about 200 local newspapers, had faced resistance from Tribune staff and last-ditch competition. Collectively, they control about one-half of daily newspapers in the U.S. What exactly went wrong would become a point of bitter debate among the journalists involved in the campaigns. "60 Minutes" correspondent Jon Wertheim did a strong piece that aired Sunday night about the grim state of local newspapers, in part because of how hedge funds, such as Alden Global Capital . From the March 1914 issue: H. L. Mencken on newspaper morals, A story circulated throughout the companypossibly apocryphal, though no one could say for surethat when Freeman was informed that The Denver Post had won a Pulitzer in 2013, his first response was: Does that come with any money?. But Glidden felt sure he knew the real reason: Alden wanted him gone. In the Hyatt meeting, Ted Venetoulis, a former Baltimore politician, advised the reporters to pick a noisy public fight: Set up a war room, circulate petitions, hold events to rally the city against Alden. After all, it has a long and venerable history of supporting local news. For Baltimore to avoid a similar fate, Simon told me, something new would have to come alonga spiritual heir to the Sun: A newspaper is its contents and the people who make it. Iowa's Lee Enterprises seeks help to fight Alden's takeover bid Lee blocks Alden Global Capital move for more board control - STLPR But for all the theatrics, his marching orders were always the same: Cut more. Instead, they gutted the place. Heath hopes the well never runs dry, but hes going to keep pumping until it does. Hedge fund reaches $630m deal to buy remaining Tribune Publishing It will rely initially on philanthropic donations, but he aims to sell enough subscriptions to make it self-sustaining within five years. In a press release Monday, Nov. 22, 2021 Alden said it sent Lee's board a letter with the offer. 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 . Today, half of all daily newspapers in the U.S. are controlled by financial firms, according to an analysis by the Financial Times, and the number is almost certain to grow. Next up: Chicago, Baltimore, and the New York Daily News. hide caption. The pay was terrible and the work was not glamorous, but Glidden loved his job. At the Pioneer Press , where its staff is down to 60, the paper produced a . Its being snuffed out, quarter after quarter after quarter. We were sitting in a coffee shop in Logan Square, and he was still struggling to make sense of what had happened. Other large shareholders include Californian asset manager Capital Group and UK fund manager Jupiter Asset Management. Feeling burned by the hedge fund, Bainum decided to make a last-minute bid for all of Tribune Publishings newspapers, pledging to line up responsible buyers in each market. The editor in chief mysteriously resigned, and managers scrambled to deal with the cuts. Stewart Bainum, since losing his bid for the Sun, has been quietly working on a new venture. He stops talking to the press, refuses to be photographed, and rarely appears in public. On . 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. So far, Alden has limited its closures primarily to weekly newspapers, but Doctor argues its only a matter of time before the firm starts shutting down its dailies as well. Freeman was clearly aware of his reputation for ruthlessness, but he seemed to regard Aldens commitment to cost-cutting as a badge of honorthe thing that distinguished him from the saps and cowards who made up Americas previous generation of newspaper owners. Alden currently owns 32%. Billionaires battle for Tribune Publishing | The Economist He studied art at Alfred University under sculptors Glenn Zweygardt and William Parry. Alden gradually took control of the papers that would become DFM. It's traded in a prestigious downtown newsroom for a "Chipotle-sized office" near the printing press. In legal filings, Alden has acknowledged diverting hundreds of millions of dollars from its newspapers into risky bets on commercial real estate, a bankrupt pharmacy chain, and Greek debt bonds. With his own money, he helps his brother launch the New York Press, a free alt-weekly in Manhattan. Alden Global Capital makes offer for Lee Enterprises, owner of Winston Next year, Bainum will launch The Baltimore Banner, an all-digital, nonprofit news outlet. The model is simple: Gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring as much cash as possible out of the enterprise until eventually enough readers cancel their subscriptions that the paper folds, or is reduced to a desiccated husk of its former self. During its five-year run with Alden, it seems quite unlikely that no one at Knight knew about the hedge funds slash-and-burn strategy for two reasons. His editor cited a supposed journalistic infraction (Glidden had reported the resignation of a school superintendent before an agreed-upon embargo). As a young man, hed studied at divinity school before taking over his fathers company, and decades later he still carried a healthy sense of noblesse oblige. When the Chicago Tribune held a Save Local News rally, most of the people who showed up were members of the media. NPR reached out to Alden for a response. Alden Global Capital moves to buy Lee Enterprises, owner of the St Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that owns The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press in Virginia, has proposed purchasing Lee Enterprises, the Iowa-based owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and most other major Virginia newspapers, for approximately $144 million, Alden announced Monday. By 2011, when Aldens Distressed Opportunities Fund lost more than 20 percent of its value, Knights holdings in the fund were valued at $10.7 million. 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. For two men who employ thousands of journalists, remarkably little is known about them. To be sure, the Knight Foundation does much to help promote and sustain local news. But he says the worst culprit is the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which bought the Mercury in 2011 and has since sold the paper's building and slashed newsroom staff by about 70%. [4] [5] The company added more newspapers to its portfolio in May 2021 when it purchased Tribune . [6][7][8][9], The company operates its media holdings through Digital First Media (DFM), which it acquired in 2010 after DMG's parent company, MediaNews Group, declared bankruptcy. Freeman would show up at business meetings straight from the gym, clad in athleisure, the executive recalled, and would find excuses to invoke his college-football heroics, saying things like When I played football at Duke, I learned some lessons about leadership. (Freeman was a walk-on placekicker on a team that won no games the year he played.). Is this company saving newspapers or profiting from their demise? - The To replace a paper like the Sun would require a large, talented staff that covers not just government, but sports and schools and restaurants and art. It is a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, the New York City hedge fund that backed the purchase of and dramatic cost-cutting at more than 100 newspapers causing more than 1,000 lost jobs. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for big newspaper chain Lee Even in the greed is good climate of the era, Randy is a polarizing character on Wall Street. In budget meetings, according to the former executive, Freeman hectored local publishers, demanding that they produce detailed numbers off the top of their head and then humiliating them when they couldnt. Prior to the acquisition of the Tribune Company, we purchased substantially all of our newspapers out of bankruptcy or close to liquidation, he told me. Alden Global Capital - Wikipedia You can bypass most soft paywalls with a little CSS knowledge [13], In response, the board of Lee Enterprises enacted a shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a "poison pill", in order to ward off the purchase attempt. My request for an interview with Smith was dismissed by his spokesperson before I finished asking. For Smith, the Palm Beach conservative and Trump ally, sticking it to the mainstream media might actually be a perk of Aldens strategy. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns over 100 newspapers and 200 assorted other publications. In May, the Tribune was acquired by Alden Global Capital, a secretive hedge fund that has quickly, and with remarkable ease, become one of the largest newspaper operators in the country. How do you know who wins? the boy asks. How this 'vulture' hedge fund's gutting of local newsrooms could hurt Its the meanness and the elegance of the capitalist marketplace brought to newspapers, Doctor told me. Alden Global Capital swallowed all of the Tribune's newspapers, including the New York Daily News, earlier in 2021. One early article, in the trade publication Poynter, suggested that Aldens interest in the local-news business could be seen as flattering and quoted the owner of The Denver Post as saying he had enormous respect for the firm. 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. The families that used to own the bulk of Americas local newspapersthe Bonfilses of Denver, the Chandlers of Los Angeleswere never perfect stewards. ", "Hedge Fund Reaches a Deal to Buy Tribune Publishing", "Opinion - Will The Chicago Tribune Be the Next Newspaper Picked to the Bone? [14], Alden has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers. Tribune Sale to Alden Approved by Shareholders - The New York Times [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. [4], In 2019, Alden attempted, but failed at, a hostile takeover of Gannett. Alden Global Capital had recently purchased a nearly one-third stake in the Suns parent company, Tribune Publishing, and the firm was signaling that it would soon come for the rest. [12] Lee owns daily newspapers in 77 markets in 26 states, and about 350 weekly and specialty publications. The purchase represents the culmination of Alden's years-long drive to take over the company and its storied titles . 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. Alden Global Looks to Buy Newspaper Publisher Lee Enterprises The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the That gave the journalists at the Sun a brief window to stop the sale from going through. Feb 16, 2021 at 8:05 pm. The newsroom was moved to a single room rented from the local chamber of commerce. But maybe the clearest illustration is in Vallejo, California, a city of about 120,000 people 30 miles north of San Francisco. This company that owns us now seems to still be prettyI dont even know how to put it, the editor said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Atlantic.
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