Two unlikely billionaires are possibly a major newspaper deal that could potentially lose hundreds of local journalistic jobs across the country.
Send the news: Maryland hotel magnate Stewart Bainum Jr. reportedly and Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss agreed to put more than $ 600 million of their own money to help fund a bid of about $ 680 million for Tribune Publishing, the parent of many of America’s most iconic newspapers.
- According to The Wall Street Journal, the bid of billionaires can now be considered by Tribune’s board of directors to its shareholders over a cheaper bid from private equity giant Alden Global Capital.
- In February, Alden said it would buy out the rest of Tribune Publishing, the parent company, to the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and other local newspapers in a deal valued at about $ 630 million by Tribune.
- The Journal reported Sunday that Banium Jr. and Wyss was able to secure the financing of their bid after they originally proposed putting up $ 200 million of their own dollars. Alden has four days to come up with a higher bid, otherwise she will lose the deal, according to The Journal.
Be smart: Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund known for reducing journalists at local newspapers to maximize profits. This has positioned him for many years as the alleged buyer of Tribune by increasingly increasing his stake in the stock market hike.
- The Journal reports that the public pleas of Chicago Tribune journalists to save the newspaper from Alden’s expected destruction inspired Wyss to make the bid.
- Last weekend, The New York Times reported that Wyss at Bainum Jr. joins his offer for the Tribune Articles, with plans to own Chicago Tribune.
- Bainum Jr. originally said he would buy the Baltimore Sun, The Capital Gazette in Annapolis and a few other smaller Maryland newspapers from Tribune for a $ 65 million report to turn the newsgroup into a non-profit organization.
- The Journal reports that Banium Jr. still intends to turn the Margland-based newspapers into a non-profit organization, and send it out in charge of private trusts.
Be smart: Other wealthy individuals seem to be paying attention to save their local newspapers from the possible takeover of Alden.
- Last week, The Journal reported that a Florida investor named Mason Slaine, who is a minority investor in Tribune, was willing to raise $ 100 million in the bid to be led by Bainum Jr.
- The WSJ noted on Sunday that Slaine was not included in the new bid made by Banium Jr. and Wyss was not submitted to Trubune’s Board.
- Slaine reportedly watched the ownership of Tribune’s two Florida articles, the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.
- Last weekend, the Morning Call, a paper from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, owned by Tribune Publishing, reported that an investor in Manhattan was the mystery presenter behind a $ 30- $ 40 million offer for the newspaper.
Go deeper: Billionaires create news sales as a new form of philanthropy.