Knight spokesman Andrew Sherry declined to answer any of those questions, saying instead, Our endowment investments support our grantmaking., We invested approximately one half of one percent of our endowment in an Alden fund between late 2009 and early 2014, he said via email. 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. So Freeman pivoted. All good works, and Knight is to be commended for them. The details of how Smith got to know him are opaque, but the resulting loyalty was evident. Tampa Bay Times sells printing plant to developer for $21 million But a sense of fatalism permeated the work. These included several Cayman Island-based funds and another profiting from Greek debt stemming from that countrys financial crisis. "[25], In early December, the board of Lee unanimously rejected the Alden bid, saying that the Alden proposal "grossly undervalues Lee and fails to recognize the strength of our business today. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Several interim executive positions were also filled by people related to Alden or its parent, Smith Management LLC.[23]. 'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys - NPR [4], Alden purchased a 5.9-percent stake in Lee Enterprises in January 2020. City budgets balloon, along with corruption and dysfunction. To David Simon, the whimpering end of The Baltimore Sun feels both inevitable and infuriating. Coordinated by . (PDF) Extractive Imperialism in the Americas | henry veltmeyer He used his own money to pull court records, and went years without going on a vacation. On the surface, the answer might seem obvious. After Brian took his own life, in 2001, Smith became a mentor and confidant to Heath, who was in college at the time of his fathers death. Shares of Lee Enterprises Inc. rose sharply Monday after hedge fund Alden Global Capital LLC offered to buy the newspaper publisher for about $141 million. Hedge fund Alden Global is buying newspaper chain Tribune Publishing "[18], Alden received critical coverage from the editorial staff at the Denver Post, who described Alden Global Capital as "vulture capitalists" after multiple staff layoffs. 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. The California Public Employees Retirement System, a few European banks, and Citigroup and Coca Cola Companys pension funds have all invested in Alden, along with charities such as the Circle of Service Foundation and the Alfred University Endowment. Convinced that the Sun wont be able to provide the kind of coverage the city needs, he has set out to build a new publication of record from the ground up. Alden completed its takeover of the Tribune papers in May. 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. The newsroom was moved to a single room rented from the local chamber of commerce. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. This is predatory.. This once-proud publication is now owned and run by Alden Global Capital, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund with a long record of buying papers on the cheap, selling off their assets and slashing pay and jobs. Those that have survived are smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable to acquisition. In early 2011, Alden was still considered a non-controlling investor, but by the end of the year, that would change. At their worst, they used their papers to maintain oppressive social hierarchies. This was the core of Freemans argument. Alden Global Capital swallowed all of the Tribune's newspapers, including the New York Daily News, earlier in 2021. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for big newspaper chain Lee Alden Global Capital seeks to buy Lee Enterprises for $144M [8][24] Tribune Publishing publishes nine major metropolitan dailies. We must finally require the online tech behemoths, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, to fairly compensate us for our original news content, he told me. 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. One tagline he was considering was Marylands Best Newsroom., When I asked, half in jest, if he planned to raid the Sun to staff up, he responded with a muted grin. 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. Some have even suggested that this represents Americas last chance to save its local-news industry. When he did, he exhibited a casual contempt for the journalists who worked there. What's in the fine print in Alden's offer to takeover Tribune? - The [30], Alden Global Capital includes a real estate division called Twenty Lake Holdings, which primarily buys excess real estate from newspapers. Theres no industry that I can think of more integral to a working democracy than the local-news business, he said. Over the course of seven years, Alden doubled profits in its Bay Area News Group newspapers, another home to cutbacks. Alden Global Capital has currently bid to buy all of Tribune. Who Profits From Alden Global Capital? Chicago-based Tribune Publishing on Tuesday announced a proposed sale to hedge fund Alden Global Capital in a deal valued at $630 million. The endorsement debate swings around again - Columbia Journalism Review The movement gained traction in some markets, with local politicians and celebrities expressing solidarity. But Glidden felt sure he knew the real reason: Alden wanted him gone. MediaNews Group came out of bankruptcy in March 2010 under the majority ownership of its lenders. Tribune Publishing last month approved a $630m takeover deal with Alden Global Capital. To many, it just didnt seem possible that Alden would instead choose to destroy newspapers by laying off the workforce en masse and stripping papers of all their assets. It was like watching a slow-motion disaster, says Gregory Pratt, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. 'Sobs, gasps, expletives' over latest Denver Post layoffs", "The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the Chicago Tribune by the Throat", "How Massive Cuts Have Remade The Denver Post", "Newsonomics: By selling to Americas worst newspaper owners, Michael Ferro ushers the vultures into Tribune", "A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms", "Affiliated Media Files for Bankruptcy to Restructure (Update2)", "The shakeup at MediaNews: Why it could be the leadup to a massive newspaper consolidation", "Alden Global Capital to buy Tribune in deal valued at $630 million", "Lee Enterprises Enacts Poison Pill to Guard Against Alden Takeover", "Lee Enterprises Board Rejects Alden's Acquisition Offer", "Alden Global Capital takes Lee Enterprises to court over failed board nominations", "Alden Global Capital sues Lee Enterprises after rejected takeover bid", "Alden Global Capital loses lawsuit to nominate its slate of candidates for Lee Enterprises' board", "Lee Enterprises shareholders reelect three directors amid hedge fund fight", "Tampa Bay Times sells printing plant to developer for $21 million", "A hedge fund's 'mercenary' strategy: Buy newspapers, slash jobs, sell the buildings", "The hedge fund trying to buy Gannett faces federal probe after investing newspaper workers' pensions in its own funds", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alden_Global_Capital&oldid=1130942589, This page was last edited on 1 January 2023, at 19:27. It turned out that those ownersNew York hedge funders whom Glidden took to calling the lizard peoplewere laser-focused on increasing the papers profit margins. "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 . So what is this Distressed Opportunities fund? Morale tanked; reporters burned out. Pioneer Press owner buys 11 more Minnesota papers - Star Tribune But whats happening in Chicago is different. In my many conversations with people who have worked with Freeman, not one could recall seeing him read a newspaper. "And what we've seen in a lot of these places where newspapers have been scaled back or even closed is there really is no comparable product in place, whether it's by the government or by another news organization, to do what these local newspapers have done for hundreds of years.". The specific shareholder rights plan adopted by the Lee board forbids Alden from purchasing more than 10% of the company, and will be in force for one year. Feb. 16, 2021 8:04 PM PT. Its not the name or the flag., He may get his wish. He quotes H. L. Mencken, the papers crusading 20th-century columnist, on the joys of journalism: It is really the life of kings. By McKay Coppins. [22] The appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital. 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?. Alden Global Capital makes an offer for Lee Enterprises, a big But he says the worst culprit is the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which bought the Mercury in 2011 and has since sold the paper's building and slashed newsroom staff by about 70%. What happens next? Lee blocks Alden Global Capital move for more board control - STLPR Opinions - Help yourself. Is it ever okay to nick an idea? [15][16] In March 2018, Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for The Washington Post, called Alden "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism. Traditional newspaper business model says you make 95% of your money off ad sales and the rest off subscriptions. Alden currently owns 32%. Media . The editor in chief mysteriously resigned, and managers scrambled to deal with the cuts. Eventually he was the only news reporter left on staff, charged with covering the citys police, schools, government, courts, hospitals, and businesses. Controversial hedge fund Alden Global wins bidding for Chicago Tribune This investment strategy does not come without social consequences. To find the papers current headquarters one afternoon in late June, I took a cab across town to an industrial block west of the river. I sort of bully people around to get stuff done, he boasted to The Washington Post in 1985. 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. Some publications, such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, have developed successful long-term models that Aldens papers might try to follow. His editor cited a supposed journalistic infraction (Glidden had reported the resignation of a school superintendent before an agreed-upon embargo). Joe Pompeo pilloried Alden in Vanity Fair for reducing newsrooms. The families that used to own the bulk of Americas local newspapersthe Bonfilses of Denver, the Chandlers of Los Angeleswere never perfect stewards. People who know him described Freemanwith his shellacked curls, perma-stubble, and omnipresent smirkas the archetypal Wall Street frat boy. Hedge fund Alden Global is buying newspaper chain Tribune Publishing Research shows that when local newspapers disappear or are dramatically gutted, communities tend to see lower voter turnout, increased polarization, a general erosion of civic engagement and an environment in which misinformation and conspiracy theories can spread more easily. 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.. It wasn't the first newspaper acquisition for this hedge fund firm, nor is it the only firm of its kind eyeing the nation's newspapers. Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that this year became the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, has made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises, the media company that owns 75 daily newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Are Barrel Shrouds Legal In California,
Apartments For Rent Merced, Ca,
Articles W