Three days later, Bainumstill smarting from his experience with Alden, but worried about the Suns fatesent a pride-swallowing email to Freeman. * Edited from 'independent . What threatens local newspapers now is not just digital disruption or abstract market forces.
Hedge fund Alden's bid to buy Chicago Tribune, other papers approved by Well, that wasnt the point. No response came back. He had spoken on this issue before, and it was easy to see why. But even for a group of journalists, it was tough to keep the publics attention. After congratulating him on closing the deal, Bainum said he was still interested in buying the Sun if Alden was willing to negotiate. Coordinated by . 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. Probably not.. Somehow, no one's buying it. He started as a general-assignment reporter, covering local crime and community events. Alden Global Capital swallowed all of the Tribune's newspapers, including the New York Daily News, earlier in 2021. We were like, Theyre not going to take our newspaper from us! But as an organization that believes that quality information is essential for individuals and communities to make their own bestchoices, it was disappointing that the foundation couldnt simply own up to its error in judgment when it came to Alden. This investment strategy does not come without social consequences. Feb 16, 2021 at 8:05 pm. Most responded with variations on the same question: Which recent stories from your newspapers have you especially appreciated? [8][24] Tribune Publishing publishes nine major metropolitan dailies. 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.. Im worried the worst is yet to come. [30], Alden Global Capital includes a real estate division called Twenty Lake Holdings, which primarily buys excess real estate from newspapers. The new owners did not fly to Chicago to address the staff, nor did they bother with paeans to the vital civic role of journalism. Reporters kept reporting, and editors kept editing, and the union kept looking for ways to put pressure on Alden. But within weeks, Bainum said, Alden tried to tack on a five-year licensing deal that would have cost him tens of millions more. By Julie Reynolds. Neither man will ever be the guest of honor at the annual dinner for the Committee to Protect Journalistsand thats probably fine by them.
Tribune shareholders approve takeover by Alden Global Capital Researchers at the University of North Carolina found that Alden-owned newspapers have cut their staff at twice the rate of their competitors; not coincidentally, circulation has fallen faster too, according to Ken Doctor, a news-industry analyst who reviewed data from some of the papers. Some people believe that local newspapers will eventually be replaced by new publications, which Coppins describes as "built from the ground-up for the digital era." .
(PDF) Extractive Imperialism in the Americas | henry veltmeyer Tribune Sale to Alden Approved by Shareholders - The New York Times The New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital - known for slashing its newspapers' budgets to extract escalated profits - won shareholder approval Friday for its $633 million bid to acquire the Tribune Publishing newspaper chain..
Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for Lee Enterprises newspaper Layout design was outsourced to freelancers in the Philippines. Heath Freeman in an undated photo provided by Goldin Solutions . Hellman and BNP together own 46.4 per cent of Allfunds' shares. It hurts to see the paper like this, he told her. The newspaper lost a quarter of its staff to buyouts after it was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May. Soon, Tribune-owned newsrooms across the country were kicking off similar campaigns. In the face of that setback, Alden said it would turn to the tactic of filing a proxy statement asking the company's shareholders to vote no on board members Mary Junck and Herbert Moloney during the March 2022 board elections. ", "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? 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 . The Banner will launch with about 50 journalistsnot far from the size of the Sunand an ambitious mandate.
Fears for future of American journalism as hedge funds flex power This is predatory.. Some have even suggested that this represents Americas last chance to save its local-news industry. Tuesday, 23 November 2021 07:46 PM EST. And when Chicago suffered a brutal summer crime wave, the paper had no one on the night shift to listen to the police scanner. Alden currently owns 32%. Clearly, for Smith and Freeman, chop-shopping their newspapers paid off. Alden Global Capital already owns 200 publications and a 6% stake in Lee Enterprises.
Pioneer Press owner buys 11 more Minnesota papers - Star Tribune Coppins notes that there's even some research indicating that city budgets increase as a result, because corruption and dysfunction can take hold without a newspaper to hold powerful people to account. Alden Global Capital, the New York hedge fund that bought Tribune Publishing this year, said on Monday that it was making an offer for another big American newspaper chain, Lee . But in the case of local news, nothing comparable is ready to replace these papers when they die. Alden, which owns more than 200 newspapers across the country, has developed a reputation for using extensive layoffs and severe cost cuts at the newspapers it owns. Stewart Bainum, since losing his bid for the Sun, has been quietly working on a new venture. A month after he started, one of his fellow reporters left and Glidden was asked to start covering schools in addition to his other responsibilities. Unless the Tribunes trajectory changes, Chicago may soon provide a grim case study. [2] Its managing director is Heath Freeman. 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 . G ARY MARX and David Jackson, two veteran investigative reporters at the Chicago Tribune, spent most of last year seeking potential buyers who might save their newspaper from Alden Global Capital . 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. Am I going to win against capitalism in America? Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you . The show draws from a book written by a Sun reporter, and Simon was quick to point out that the paper still has good journalists covering important stories. It was like watching a slow-motion disaster, says Gregory Pratt, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. As a privately held hedge fund, Alden doesnt have to reveal much to the public.
Lee Enterprises rejects Alden Global Capital's unsolicited proposal As a reporter who's 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 America's largest newspaper chains?. When I asked Freeman what he thought was broken about the newspaper industry, he launched into a monologue that was laden with jargon and light on insightsummarizing what has been the conventional wisdom for a decade as though it were Aldens discovery. On Monday, Dail About a month after The Baltimore Sun was acquired by Alden, a senior editor at the paper took questions from anxious reporters on Zoom. More to the point, Tribune Publishingwhich represents a substantial portion of Aldens titleswas profitable at the time of the acquisition. In its bid to acquire Tribune Publishing, the hedge fund Alden Global Capital vowed to provide $375 million in cash to the owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and other titles a . A search through nonprofit groups publicly available financial reports, commonly known as Form 990s, reveals that all kinds of organizations some surprising have invested their monies with Alden over the years. NPR's A Martnez talks to McKay Coppins of The Atlantic about how a hedge fund, Alden Global Capital, is buying and then gutting newspapers and the implications for democracy. Who Profits From Alden Global Capital? In my many conversations with people who have worked with Freeman, not one could recall seeing him read a newspaper. Freeman was only slightly more accessible. One researcher tells me that if that money were invested in the S&P 500 Index Fund, it would have earned roughly $11 million over the same period. It's traded in a prestigious downtown newsroom for a "Chipotle-sized office" near the printing press. The 21st century has seen many of these generational owners flee the industry, to devastating effect. In 2011, Paton launched an ambitious initiative he called Project Thunderdome, hiring more than 50 journalists in New York and strategically deploying them to supplement short-staffed local newsrooms. Of course, its easy to romanticize past eras of journalism. [11], In November 2021, Alden Global Capital made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises for $24 a share in cash, or about $141 million. He said that he still appreciated their journalism, but that he couldnt speak for his corporate bosses. Here was one of Americas most storied newspapersa publication that had endorsed Abraham Lincoln and scooped the Treaty of Versailles, that had toppled political bosses and tangled with crooked mayors and collected dozens of Pulitzer Prizesreduced to a newsroom the size of a Chipotle. Bainum told me hed come to appreciate local journalism in the 1970s while serving in the Maryland state legislature. 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 . A reporter at one of his newspapers suggested I try doorstepping Smithshowing up at his home unannounced to ask questions from the porch. [10] With its acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late May 2021, Alden is collectively the second-largest owner of newspapers in the United States, as calculated by average daily print circulation, second only to Gannett. But there are some clues here and there. People who know him described Freemanwith his shellacked curls, perma-stubble, and omnipresent smirkas the archetypal Wall Street frat boy. Former Knight-Ridder headquarters. A look at Alden Global Capital is the cover story of the latest . , From the February 1905 issue: The confessions of a newspaper woman, The papers union hired a PR firm to launch a public-awareness campaign under the banner Save Our Sun and published a letter calling on the Tribune board to sell the paper to local owners. After a powerful Illinois state legislator resigned amid bribery allegations, the paper didnt have a reporter in Springfield to follow the resulting scandal. Glidden had heard rumblings about the papers owners when he first took the job, but he hadnt paid much attention. The 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?. The purchase represents the culmination of Alden's years-long drive to take over the company and its storied titles .
Alden Global Capital moves to buy Lee Enterprises, owner of the St In a news release Monday, Alden said it sent Lee's board a letter with the offer. He told me it will begin with an annual operating budget of $15 million, unprecedented for an outfit of this kind.