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Two veteran journalists from the Chicago Tribune published an op-ed on Sunday challenging one of the paper's principal owners, the New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital. Media . 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. Freemans father, Brian, was a successful investment banker who specialized in making deals on behalf of labor unions. Its not the name or the flag., He may get his wish. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. My question was did Knight know what Alden was doing to newspapers when it invested with the hedge fund, and does it regret that investment now? Coppins describes Alden as a specific type of firm: a "vulture hedge fund." Through it all, the owners maintained their ruthless silencespurning interview requests and declining to articulate their plans for the paper. 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. In addition to the constant layoffs, our buildings were being sold, basic office supplies became scarce and the hot water stopped working. Before our interview, Id contacted a number of Aldens reporters to find out what they would ask their boss if they ever had the chance. Some in the industry say they wouldnt be surprised if Smith and Freeman end up becoming the biggest newspaper moguls in U.S. history. Alden Global Capital makes offer for Lee Enterprises, owner of Winston Glidden had heard rumblings about the papers owners when he first took the job, but he hadnt paid much attention. "[17] and Vanity Fair dubbed Alden the "grim reaper of American newspapers. Otherwise, youre just peeing in the ocean.. He teaches his 8-year-old son, Caleb, to make trades on a Quotron computer, and imparts the value of delayed gratification by reportedly postponing his familys Christmas so that he can use all their available cash to buy stocks at lower prices in December. Around this time, Randy becomes preoccupied with privacy. 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 . Chicago-based Tribune Publishing on Tuesday announced a proposed sale to hedge fund Alden Global Capital in a deal valued at $630 million. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for big newspaper chain Lee October 14, 2021. Below are highlights from his conversation with Morning Edition's A Martnez. She was writing about Aldens growing newspaper empire, and wanted to know what it was like to be the last news reporter in town. He said that he still appreciated their journalism, but that he couldnt speak for his corporate bosses. Instead, they gutted the place. When a local newspaper vanishes, research shows, it tends to correspond with lower voter turnout, increased polarization, and a general erosion of civic engagement. But by 2013, despite deep losses to Alden funds overall values in the previous two years, Smith was able to begin buying his now infamous swath of South Florida mansions for $58 million and Freeman was acquiring multi-million-dollar New York condos. [22] The appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital. By the charitys own accounting, it lost $ 2.3 million in book value on a $17 million investment that year. Other large shareholders include Californian asset manager Capital Group and UK fund manager Jupiter Asset Management. [4][13], In November 2021, Alden made an offer to Lee to purchase the company in its entirety for roughly $141 million. The practical effect of the death of local journalism is that you get what weve had, he told me, which is a halcyon time for corruption and mismanagement and basically misrule.. But that's not true for all of them. 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 . Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that owns the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, offered to buy Lee Enterprises Inc. for about $142 million, seeking a larger share of the . 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. That might sound like a losing formula, but these papers dont have to become sustainable businesses for Smith and Freeman to make money. Daily News spinoff stirs anxiety after Alden takeover - New York Post [8][24] Tribune Publishing publishes nine major metropolitan dailies. Nov. 22, 2021. They had a father-figure relationship, one told me. Shortly after the Tribune deal closed earlier this year, I began trying to interview the men behind Alden Capital. The newspaper lost a quarter of its staff to buyouts after it was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May. But for Simon, that paper exists entirely in the past. Some publications, such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, have developed successful long-term models that Aldens papers might try to follow. Local newsrooms strained by budget-slashing financial firms In Orlando, the Sentinel ran an editorial pleading with the community to deliver us from Alden and comparing the hedge fund to a biblical plague of locusts. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, reporters held reader forums where they tried to instill a sense of urgency about the threat Alden posed to The Morning Call. After college he worked at Hudson Studio, Art Foundry in Niverville, NY . The families that used to own the bulk of Americas local newspapersthe Bonfilses of Denver, the Chandlers of Los Angeleswere never perfect stewards. 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. Smith & Company. Lee's board of directors . Most responded with variations on the same question: Which recent stories from your newspapers have you especially appreciated? | Michael Gray, WIkimedia Commons. He wrote, "Alden Global Capital has eliminated the jobs of scores of reporters and editors, and decimated journalism in cities all over the country: Denver, Boston, San Jose, Trenton, etc. Next year, Bainum will launch The Baltimore Banner, an all-digital, nonprofit news outlet. by Magnus Shaw..An enormous advertising company (Leo Burnett) and a small creative film company (Asylum) have had a difficult couple of weeks. Layout design was outsourced to freelancers in the Philippines. Probably not.. When plans for the building were announced in 1922, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime owner of the Chicago Tribune, said he wanted to erect the worlds most beautiful office building for his beloved newspaper. 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.). qhhsubiquity.com Informacin detallada del sitio web y la empresa If you're a reader of local newspapers particularly the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun or New York Daily News you're going to want to make sure the answer is yes. According to its 990s, Knight ended up making $185,000 over five years on its initial $13.4 million investment. The largest share of the blame was assigned to the Tribune board for allowing the sale to Alden to go through. According to Aldens scarce SEC filings, it currently has fewer than 10 investors, most of them from overseas. But who most of those few souls are, and how much of the hundreds of millions skimmed from DFM papers theyve received remains a deep, dark mystery. The scene was somehow even grimmer than Id imagined. Hedge fund Alden's bid to buy Chicago Tribune, other papers approved by Newspapers Affect Us, Often In Ways We Don't Realize, 'Project Mayhem': Reporters Race To Save Tribune Papers From 'Vulture' Fund. Pioneer Press owner buys 11 more Minnesota papers - Star Tribune And that has consequences for democracy, as journalist McKay Coppins writes in The Atlantic. The firm has a history of purchasing newspapers to cut costs wherever . It will rely initially on philanthropic donations, but he aims to sell enough subscriptions to make it self-sustaining within five years. They want to know who exactly profits when we learn, as Harvard Nieman Lab's Ken Doctor recently reported, that the firm netted $160 million last year from its Digital First Media . In a press release Monday, Nov. 22, 2021 Alden said it sent Lee's board a letter with the offer. [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. When it was over, a quarter of the newsroom was gone. A century later, the Tribune Tower has retained its grandeur. This was the core of Freemans argument. But by 2014, it was becoming clear to Aldens executives that Patons approach would be difficult to monetize in the short term, according to people familiar with the firms thinking. On March 9, 2020, a small group of Baltimore Sun reporters convened a secret meeting at the downtown Hyatt Regency. Hedge fund Alden Global is buying newspaper chain Tribune Publishing But this acquisition was profound, making Alden Global . I asked. Its hard to imagine theyd show, anyway. Heath Freeman, president of Alden Global Capital, is known for pushing big cost reductions, which he says help to save newspapers. I asked Knight about those investments and whether the Foundations officers had any regrets, knowing what we now do about Aldens devastating effect on its own newspapers. But most of them also had a stake in the communities their papers served, which meant that, if nothing else, their egos were wrapped up in putting out a respectable product. NY Daily News owner Alden sues Lee after publisher rejects takeover bid I knew they almost never talked to reporters, but Randall Smith and Heath Freeman were now two of the most powerful figures in the news industry, and theyd gotten there by dismantling local journalism. When Alden first got into the news business, Freeman seemed willing to indulge some innovation. You could look to Oakland, California, where the East Bay Times laid off 20 people one week after the paper won a Pulitzer. 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 . Hes acutely aware of the risksI may end up with egg on my face, he saidbut he believes its worth trying to develop a successful model that could be replicated in other markets. He quotes H. L. Mencken, the papers crusading 20th-century columnist, on the joys of journalism: It is really the life of kings. Collectively, they control about one-half of daily newspapers in the U.S. The new owners had announced a round of buyouts, some beloved staffers were leaving, and those who remained were worried about the future. [4], In 2019, Alden attempted, but failed at, a hostile takeover of Gannett. Alden, which has built a reputation as one of the newspaper industry's most aggressive cost-cutters, became Tribune Publishing's largest shareholder in November 2019 and owns a 31.3% stake. Unless the Tribunes trajectory changes, Chicago may soon provide a grim case study. Its the meanness and the elegance of the capitalist marketplace brought to newspapers, Doctor told me. In the for-profit news arena, Knight is spurring the digital transformation of local newsrooms through the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, Sherry said. "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 . Neither man will ever be the guest of honor at the annual dinner for the Committee to Protect Journalistsand thats probably fine by them. 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 . Like many alumni of the Sun, Simon is steeped in the papers history. Inside Alden Global Capital. It was like watching a slow-motion disaster, says Gregory Pratt, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. And when Chicago suffered a brutal summer crime wave, the paper had no one on the night shift to listen to the police scanner. Another ex-publisher told me Freeman believed that local newspapers should be treated like any other commodity in an extractive business. Bainum envisioned rebuilding the paperwhich, by 2020, was down to a single full-time statehouse reporteras a nonprofit. This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog. Gerry Smith. (PDF) Extractive Imperialism in the Americas | henry veltmeyer 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. Tribune Publishing last month approved a $630m takeover deal with Alden Global Capital. The Ubiquity - The student news site of Quartz Hill High School But he has a big idea: He believes theres serious money to be made in buying troubled companies, steering them into bankruptcy, and then selling them off in parts. But as long as Alden had made back its money, the investment would be a success. 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. It was all about the next quarters profit margins, says Matt DeRienzo, who worked as a publisher for Aldens Connecticut newspapers before finally resigning. At the time, even savvy media insiders like Martin Langeveld wistfully predicted Alden would keep newspapers future in mind: Smith knows that the only way to win his big bet on the future of newspapers is to turn them into nimble, modern digital news enterprises.. Or to Denver, where the Posts staff was cut by two-thirds, evicted from its newsroom, and relocated to a plant in an area with poor air quality, where some employees developed breathing problems. [31], In 2019, Twenty Lake Holdings reported that it had acquired about 180 properties with 2.3 million square feet of real estate in 29 states. With Alden in control, he believes the Sun is now a prisoner that stands little chance of escape. At the same time, he increased subscription prices in many markets; it would take awhile for subscribersmany of them older loyalists who didnt carefully track their billsto notice that they were paying more for a worse product. It's a tangled tale but essentially Asylum produced a film for the McDonald's charitable foundation for Leo. When John Glidden first joined the Vallejo Times-Herald, in 2014, it had a staff of about a dozen reporters, editors, and photographers. [2][3] By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers. and our desire to support local newspapers over the long term." Alden said it wants to work Lee's board of . Iowa's Lee Enterprises seeks help to fight Alden's takeover bid 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?. These papers would have been liquidated if not for us stepping up.. They call Alden a vulture hedge fund, and I think thats honestly a misnomer, Johnson said. Alden Global to buy Tribune Publishing for $630 million - Los Angeles Times So why be surprised that Knight-Ridder or anyone else is investing in destructive but profitable ventures? Am I going to win against capitalism in America? Hedge fund Alden in hunt for another big newspaper chain - WKMG 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. 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. Knight first reported its investment in Alden in 2010, noting the fair market value of its Alden holdings was $13.4 million. Last week, Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund notorious for slashing costs at its local titles, came down on the No side of the question, with editorial boards at papers that it owns stating that they will no longer endorse candidates for governor, US senator, or president. At the Pioneer Press , where its staff is down to 60, the paper produced a . . For Smith, the Palm Beach conservative and Trump ally, sticking it to the mainstream media might actually be a perk of Aldens strategy. Smith began investing in newspapers and media around the same time. Coordinated by . Financially, it was a raw deal. To David Simon, the whimpering end of The Baltimore Sun feels both inevitable and infuriating. Since they bought their first newspapers a decade ago, no one has been more mercenary or less interested in pretending to care about their publications long-term health. After a contentious presidential race and amid a still-raging pandemic, there was a limited supply of outrage and sympathy to spare for local reporters. 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 . Smith & Company, a firm founded by Randall Duncan Smith, initially using the $20,000 cash prize he and his wife won on the 1968-1970 gameshow Dream House. At their worst, they used their papers to maintain oppressive social hierarchies. Alden, which took Chicago-based newspaper chain Tribune Publishing private in May, said it made a proposal to buy Lee for $24 a share in cash, a 30% premium to Friday's closing price for . 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. But outside the industry, few seemed to notice. The firm oversaw the promotion of John Paton, a charismatic digital-media evangelist, who improved the papers web and mobile offerings and increased online ad revenue. Alden Global Looks to Buy Newspaper Publisher Lee Enterprises [3] [4] With its acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late . California biotech billionaire and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns 24%, [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. 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. For those who cared about the future of local news, it was hard to imagine a better outcomewhich made it all the more devastating when the bid fell through. But in the meantime, there isn't really anything that can fill the hole these newspapers will leave if they're shut down. But I had underestimated how little Aldens founders care about their standing in the journalism world. Of course, its easy to romanticize past eras of journalism. Scott Olson/Getty Images 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? By McKay Coppins. One, the warning shot was fired in 2011, in a Poynter Institute article titled Who is investor Randall Smith and why is he buying up newspaper companies? Randall Smith is the co-founder of Alden, together with his young protg, Heath Freeman, and has been called the grandfather of vulture investing. Vulture funds by definition dont reinvest in their properties they suck them dry. Instead, the money was used to finance the hedge funds other ventures. Eventually he was the only news reporter left on staff, charged with covering the citys police, schools, government, courts, hospitals, and businesses. Hedge Fund Alden in Hunt for Another Big Newspaper Chain Located in the same Manhattan office building as Alden, it funds stem-cell research, health-related charities, arts and culture and Duke University, alma mater of Smiths protg Heath Freeman. 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. Lee Enterprises rejects Alden Global Capital's unsolicited proposal "[21], shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a "poison pill", "Alden Global Capital LLC NEW YORK , NY", "Company Overview of Alden Global Capital LLC", "Heath Freeman of Alden Global Capital says he wants to save local news. Reporters kept reporting, and editors kept editing, and the union kept looking for ways to put pressure on Alden. Feb 16, 2021 at 8:05 pm. Aldens calculus was simple. If you went into a lab to create the perfect bro, Heath would be that creation, says one former executive at an Alden-owned company, who, like others in this story, requested anonymity to speak candidly. Orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft a closely watched proxy for business investment, rose 0.8 per cent in January from a month earlier, comfortably above economists . Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. Ken Kelleher - Creative Director / Artist - LinkedIn But when I emailed his studio looking for information, I was informed curtly that the photo was no longer available. Had Smith bought the rights himself? If accepted, the $24 per share purchase price would . 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. After weeks of back-and-forth, he agreed to a phone call, but only if parts of the conversation could be on background (which is to say, I could use the information generally but not attribute it to him). Who Profits From Alden Global Capital? You'd be surprised. On Monday, Dail Alden currently owns 32%. But it turned out that Smith had so many doorsteps16 mansions in Palm Beach alone, as of a few years ago, some of them behind gatesthat the plan proved impractical. Digital First Media - Wikipedia It is the nations second-largest newspaper owner by circulation. A recent Financial Times analysis found that half of all daily newspapers in the U.S. are controlled by financial firms, and Coppins says that number is all but certain to keep growing. NPR reached out to Alden for a response. Those that have survived are smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable to acquisition. Alden Global Capital Is Killing the Newsroom - Common Dreams Connecting this to the current state of American newspaper ownership seems rather tenuous.. Alden is not a newspaper company, says Ann Marie Lipinski, a former editor in chief of the Chicago Tribune. The $633 million sale made Alden the nation's second largest newspaper owner in terms of circulation, with more than 200 newspapers. 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. In May 2021, Tribune Publishing finalized its sale to Alden, after having announced in February 2021 that it intended to pursue this path. Read: What we lost when Gannett came to town. ", "Hedge Fund Reaches a Deal to Buy Tribune Publishing", "Opinion - Will The Chicago Tribune Be the Next Newspaper Picked to the Bone? Controversial hedge fund Alden Global wins bidding for Chicago Tribune This is a subscription-based business.. His editor cited a supposed journalistic infraction (Glidden had reported the resignation of a school superintendent before an agreed-upon embargo). A native of Vallejo, he was proud to work for his hometown paper. No response came back. A more honest argument might have claimed, as some economists have, that vulture funds like Alden play a useful role in creative destruction, dismantling outmoded businesses to make room for more innovative insurgents.

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