'Destroyer of Newspapers' To Purchase Chicago Tribune Publishing

CHICAGO — A hedge fund dubbed a "destroyer of newspapers" has purchased Tribune Publishing for $630 million, the company said.

Alden Global Capital, which already had a 35-percent stake in Tribune Publishing, agreed to purchase all remaining shares for $17.25 each to take the company private. Tribune Publishing stock was listed as $15.97 at the end of trading Tuesday. The per-share purchase price is $3 more than what Alden Global Capital had offered in December.

"Over the past year, the Company has taken a number of actions to adapt to an ever-changing business and industry environment, including the impact of COVID-19. These actions included strengthening the Company's financial position, driving digital growth and investing in high-quality content to better serve customers, employees and communities," Tribune Publishing chairman Philip G. Franklin said in a statement.

"This positioning enabled the special committee to negotiate a premium, all-cash price, which the committee concluded was superior to the available alternatives."

Alden Global Capital owns about 200 newspapers and has a reputation for slashing newsroom budgets and laying off reporters and editors. For years, it has been known as the "destroyer of newspapers," and earlier this month, Vanity Fair called Alden the "hedge fund vampire that bleeds newspapers dry."

The deal gives Alden control of the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Virginian-Pilot, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, New York Daily News, Capital Gazette, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia.

Chicago Tribune Guild President Gregory Pratt responded to the "absolutely terrible news" on Twitter.

"We will continue to fight @CTGuild for our newsroom and our city, no matter what happens next. But @chicagotribune needs local ownership with a civic conscience. We are now at the opposite extreme," he wrote. "Whatever your politics, wherever you work, please know: A gutted @chicagotribune will be devastating to our city."

Part of the deal includes Alden signing a "non-binding term sheet" to sell The Baltimore Sun to Sunlight for All Institute, a public charity formed by Stewart Bainum Jr.

The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, pending approval by stockholders, the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and other conditions, according to a Tribune Publishing statement.