For more than a year, journalists from the Tribune media group had opposed a takeover by Alden, which has a reputation for forcing even higher profit margins even in an industry tormented by cost cuts and layoffs.
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(Photo: AP)
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New York The US newspaper chain Tribune Publishing is completely taken over by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital. The shareholders accepted the offer of the hedge fund on Friday, which already held almost a third of the shares in one of the largest publishers in the United States. These include the “Chicago Tribune” and the “Baltimore Sun”. Alden already owns the Boston Herald, Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News through his company Digital First Media.
For more than a year, journalists from the Tribune media group had opposed a takeover by Alden, which has a reputation for forcing even higher profit margins even in an industry tormented by cost cuts and layoffs. Staff organized rallies trying to find local buyers to save their newspapers.
They were hoping for a higher offer from hotel mogul Stewart Bainum and urged Tribune partner Patrick Soon-Shiong to reject Alden’s offer. “Alden as a top shareholder is a permanent crisis, but Alden in full control is likely to destroy the Tribune publications,” wrote Chicago Tribune Guild reporter Gregory Pratt in an appeal to Soon-Shiong, who was after Alden held the second-largest share in the publisher. Soon-Shiong abstained from voting on Friday.
The acquisition is just the latest in a series of newspaper acquisitions by financial companies. The slump in print advertising due to the migration of readers to digital publications has shaken the traditional newspaper business. Publishers have closed more than 2,000 newspapers in the past 15 years. Half of the jobs in the editorial offices have disappeared.
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More: Hedge fund Alden Global plans to take over US newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing
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