Tribune Publishing has a market worth of roughly $470 million.
Picture: Brian Cassella/Zuma Press
A hedge fund that owns a giant stake in Tribune Publishing Co. TPCO 0.31% is looking for to purchase the newspaper chain behind titles together with the Chicago Tribune and New York Every day Information, in keeping with folks accustomed to the matter.
Alden World Capital LLC, which is already Tribune’s largest shareholder with a 32% stake, may disclose a proposal for the corporate as quickly as Thursday, the folks stated. Particulars of the potential bid couldn’t be discovered.
Tribune has a market worth of roughly $470 million after a yearslong slide because the prospects for native newspapers dim. Its shares are little modified this 12 months and closed Wednesday at $12.79.
A deal would have far-reaching implications for an business beset by sharp declines in income over the previous 20 years which have led to a wave of consolidation and price cuts. Between 2008 and 2019, the business shed 51% of its newsroom jobs, in keeping with the Pew Analysis Heart.
Tribune Publishing, one of many largest newspaper chains within the nation by circulation, publishes 9 larger-market every day papers, together with the Baltimore Solar, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant.
Alden controls MediaNews Group, a personal firm that owns some 60 every day newspapers across the nation, together with the Denver Publish, San Jose Mercury Information and Orange County Register. The hedge fund has a status for making deep price cuts at titles it acquires.
In July, Alden cemented a firmer place on the Tribune board, taking management of a 3rd seat out of seven in trade for an settlement to increase a standstill settlement that forestalls the hedge fund from growing its stake or making a hostile bid till after June 2021.
Consequently, any deal to extend the stake would seemingly want signoff from Tribune or a good portion of shareholders unaffiliated with Alden. The corporate’s second-largest shareholder, with about 25%, is Patrick Quickly-Shiong, a billionaire biotech investor who in 2018 purchased the Los Angeles Instances from Tribune for $500 million.
With the business reeling from the financial influence stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, Tribune has laid off dozens of reporters and closed a lot of its newsrooms completely to avoid wasting on real-estate prices. Earlier in December, Tribune agreed to promote its e-commerce enterprise, Greatest Evaluations, to Nexstar Media Group Inc. for $160 million.
Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com, Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com and Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
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Appeared within the December 31, 2020, print version as ‘Fund Seeks to Totally Purchase Tribune Chain.’
