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News & Documents

“In a hedge fund’s bid for Tribune’s newspapers, a hidden risk lurks in the fine print”

“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 theoretically welcome influx to an investment-starved newspaper chain. But industry and financial experts have looked at the fine print and see something starkly different: Alden, they say, has already signaled it plans to saddle Tribune with debt that could further hollow out the company, and it may not have $375 million available to begin with.”

“In a hedge fund’s bid for Tribune’s newspapers, a hidden risk lurks in the fine print”

News & Documents

“How much is Tribune Publishing worth? Is Alden getting a steal of a deal at $630 million?”

The valuation of Tribune Publishing and its nine metro newspapers, in play for takeover, continues to be an issue with fresh evidence this week that the company is doing reasonably well financially.

“How much is Tribune Publishing worth? Is Alden getting a steal of a deal at $630 million?”

News & Documents

“Fear the Vulture: Alden Destroys News Organizations While Promising to Save Them”

This heavily sourced article published in September 2020 examines Alden Global Capital’s history of insider deals and cronyism. It traces the career of Alden founder and Tribune Director Randall Smith from a “bottom feeder” in the 1980s to a retail titan in the 2010s who oversaw the elimination of over 20,000 jobs. It looks at Alden’s liquidation strategy for the papers it controls within MediaNews Group (Alden owns 70% of MNG). It examines how Alden used MNG to extract cash from newspapers to finance a failed investment in a southern pharmacy chain. It explores how Alden appears to have breached its fiduciary duties when, as trustees of MNG newspaper pension plans, it vastly over-invested in Alden assets.

“Fear the Vulture: Alden Destroys News Organizations While Promising to Save Them”

News & Documents

“The State of Journalism at Tribune Publishing”

The NewsGuild-CWA used a survey and other primary source material to examine the attitudes of Tribune Publishing employees toward the journalism produced by the newspapers within the Tribune chain: A super-majority (95%) reported news beats that were no longer being covered. In light of Alden Global Capital’s investment, Tribune employees were fearful for the future of their newspapers. Employees had witnessed negative changes since Alden put representatives on the Tribune board.

“The State of Journalism at Tribune Publishing”