A Hedge Fund Comes for Another Newsroom
Alden Global, known for its aggressive cost cutting, strikes a deal with Tribune’s ex-chairman in a match made in purgatory.
Tribune shareholders are thrilled at the prospect of bolstered profitability. But the newsroom staff …?
Photographer: Jeff Haynes/AFP via Getty Images
Michael Ferro’s tumultuous run at the top of Tribune Publishing Co.’s shareholder register is ending in a pile of hypocrisy: with a sale to a hedge fund known for cutting newsrooms to the bone.
Alden Global, the hedge fund whose firm MNG Enterprises tried to buy Gannett Co. earlier this year, is acquiring Ferro’s 25% stake in the Chicago Tribune owner and is in discussions with the company to add two people to its board. Alden has made a business out of gobbling newspapers, ruthlessly cutting costs and gutting the staff and then, cutting even more when the product is invariably damaged, as my colleague Joe Nocera has written here, here and elsewhere. It will pay $13 a share for the privilege of getting the chance to push the same strategy at Tribune.