Posted on 05/30/2006 2:52:43 PM PDT by george76
Yucaipa is headed by supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, a close friend of former President Clinton.
He was recruited by the Guild because of his reputation as a union-friendly boss.
Bidding continues for papers McClatchy chain plans to sell...
Representatives of the Yucaipa Cos. could visit the Times Leader next week as the deadline looms to submit final bids for six so-called orphan Knight Ridder newspapers.
Yucaipa, a California private equity firm, has joined with The Newspaper Guild, a journalists’ union, in an attempt to execute a “worker-friendly” purchase of the papers, including the Times Leader.
The McClatchy Co., which is buying the 32-newspaper Knight Ridder chain and selling off 12 of the publications, has announced agreements for six of the papers.
The deadline for bids on the remaining operations is Wednesday.
Times Leader Publisher Pat McHugh, who has signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibits him from discussing the bidding process, said he did not know if Yucaipa representatives planned to tour the facility next week.
But, a source who asked to remain anonymous, said Times Leader officials are presuming from information they are not permitted to disclose that the union-backed group was planning to visit Wilkes-Barre.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesleader.com ...
The Newspaper Guild, a journalists’ union, in an attempt to execute a “worker-friendly” purchase...
released a statement on Tuesday saying it remains committed to pursuing a deal for the remaining Knight Ridder papers and “any additional newspaper properties around the United States that may be coming to the marketplace.”
I submit there's an easier way for them to piss away their money than to buy newspapers with no future. They could set fire to it...
Buying newspapers and Unions aren't going to get the slime-one in the White House....
Bill Clinton...signing on as a senior adviser (and "active adviser," according to a company press release) to the Yucaipa Corporate Initiatives Fund and the Yucaipa American Fund.
Both get all their cash from pension funds from public-school teachers and government workers in California and New York state.
The workers whose pensions have been invested in Yucaipa are getting a terrible deal.
According to CALSTARS, California teachers have already committed $61.9 million of the $150 million that they promised Yucaipa. As of last March 31, three years after the venture started, they'd seen a grand total of $837 come back to them.
Overall, the rate of return since the funds launched have been a loss of 12.1 percent.
CALPERS has not done much better. After pouring more than $116 million into various Yucaipa ventures since 2002, it's seen a return of $55,963.
AT the same time, Yucaipa is also collecting hefty fees for managing the pension funds' investments — more than $3 million a year from CALPERS and $3.5 million a year from the New York Common Retirement Fund.
How much of this ends up in Bill Clinton's pocket is anybody's guess. He's not disclosing his fees.
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/61087.htm
Ya know, its really a shame that trees are tortured by harvesting and then pulped into newsprint, only to end up dying in a forest fire...
The print on those fishwrap logs looks hazardous to human health. Somebody ought to write a law prohibiting the inking of fishwrap.
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