Posted on 12/26/2006 2:13:09 PM PST by MplsSteve
The Star Tribune is being sold to a private equity firm for $530 million, the companies involved announced in a press release today. The sale to Avista Capital Partners comes eight years after The McClatchy Company purchased the Star Tribune from Cowles Media Company for $1.2 billion. The text of the press release follows.
The Star Tribune is being sold by The McClatchy Company to private equity firm Avista Capital Partners, McClatchy and Avista announced today. The companies say they have a definitive agreement to sell the Star Tribune for $530 million to Avista, which has offices in New York and Houston.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The Red Star is being sold to a private equity group.
I kinda like this. Maybe the markets will now have a say in how news is reported by this rotten excuse for a wish wrapper.
I really really hope there are deep staff cuts - starting with the editorial board (yes, you Jim Boyd!) and columnists like Nick Coleman.
Oooooh, I got my fingers crossed!
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They lost 700 million dollars in eight years????
ping
I thought you meant "fish wrapper", but I like "wish wrapper" even better.
Think about it for a minute.
*Or maybe I'm the last to catch on.
Buy high and sell low. Ouch!
Purchased eight years ago for 1.2 billion, selling price now...530 million...
It's called the "Reverse Hillary Cattle Futures" syndrome.
No newspaper is worth that much.
Looks that way. In absolute terms. And when you factor in inflation... the real dollar loss has to be well north of a billion.
Find a large business that's tanking and you have usually found an oasis of liberalism that is drying up.
Great news. Anybody is better than being owned by Knight-Ridder/McClatchey.
I hope the new people are reasonably smart, and change toe Red Star for the better. If not, I hope they lose their whole investment promptly, and go out of business.
Congressman Billybob
Don't be so sure.
Newspapers are hugely profitable assets and very cash rich. I'd wager the Star-Tribune is sitting on at least $100 million in liquid assets and is generating a return of 20% on sales -- an enormous profit margin.
Newspapers railed at "bloated oil company profits" this summer. But their profits as a % of sales are typically 3 or 4 times what Exxon earns...and over ten times what Walmart is making.
They don't want you to know that, of course...
Wow. I never would have thought this after their hideous election coverage. I wonder if there are lots of nervous people in the Red Star's newsrooms.
Question: How you make a small fortune in the newspaper business?
Answer: Start with a large fortune.
Good news. More layoffs on the way after the purchase is finalized.
http://www.philebrity.com/?p=2460
The Skinny: Avista Capital Holdings L.P., a private-equity firm in New York with murky ties to European bankers. The group is fronted by Christopher M. Harte, a former Knight Ridder exec with an expressed love of the Inquirer. Since leaving Knight Ridder in the early 90s, Harte briefly helmed the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram before moving into private equity investment. His shares of the family business — Harte-Harke Inc., a San Antonio-based publishing and direct mail concern — is said to be worth $15 million.
Rich but firmly a Democrat. Harte used to co-own Spy and he got the Gene Roberts seal of approval, which is sorta like Obi-wan telling you you’re Jedi material. Roberts is the man who lifted the Inquirer out of disgrace and left it a house of Pullitzers. The Knight Ridder bean counters have been slowly dismantling it ever since.
also:
’08 Christopher M. Harte of Austin, TX is assistant secretary and chair of the Governance Committee of National Audubon Society. Mr. Harte is a former trustee of Maine Audubon Society and the Maine, Texas and Florida chapters of The Nature Conservancy. He is the former publisher of the Centre Daily Times, Akron Beacon Journal, and Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. Mr. Harte currently serves a director of Harte-Hanks, Geokinetics and Mincron Software. Mr. Harte is a member of the Audubon Texas advisory board.
'04 CHRISTOPHER M. HARTE of Portland, Maine,
is an investment manager. He is a former trustee of the Maine Audubon Society, a current trustee of the Maine chapter of The Nature Conservancy and former trustee of the Texas and Florida chapters. Since 1989 he has been restoring prairie on a 900-acre ranch 30 miles west of Austin. He is a graduate of Stanford and has an MBA from the University of Texas. He was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and was publisher of the Centre Daily Times in State College, PA, the Akron Beacon Journal, and the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He is a director of Harte-Hanks, Mincron Software, Geokinetics, and Crown Resources. He was elected to the Board in March of 1998 to fill a vacancy, elected by the members in December of 1998 and re-elected in 2001.
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