The audio for this interview was produced by Ryan Benk and edited by Scott Saloway. G ARY MARX and David Jackson, two veteran investigative reporters at the Chicago Tribune, spent most of last year seeking potential buyers who might save their newspaper from Alden Global Capital . The Ubiquity - The student news site of Quartz Hill High School A month after he started, one of his fellow reporters left and Glidden was asked to start covering schools in addition to his other responsibilities. [7][8] Alden's purchase price was $635 million, or $17.25 per share. Most of his investments are defined by a cold pragmatism, but he takes a more personal interest in the media sector. But if you really started fucking up in grandiose and belligerent ways, if you started stealing and grifting and lying, eventually somebody would come up behind you and say, Youre grifting and youre lying and theyd put it in the paper., The bad stuff runs for so long now, he went on, that by the time you get to it, institutions are irreparable, or damn near close., Take away the newsroom packed with meddling reporters, and a city loses a crucial layer of accountability. For Freeman and his investors to come out ahead, they didnt need to worry about the long-term health of the assetsthey just needed to maximize profits as quickly as possible. Spend some time around the shell-shocked journalists at the Tribune these days, and youll hear the same question over and over: How did it come to this? "[17] and Vanity Fair dubbed Alden the "grim reaper of American newspapers. By 2011, when Aldens Distressed Opportunities Fund lost more than 20 percent of its value, Knights holdings in the fund were valued at $10.7 million. Have you heard of the hedge fund Alden Global Capital? Hedge Fund Alden in Hunt for Another Big Newspaper Chain Knight began selling off its Alden holdings in 2012, and got completely out in 2014. For Freeman, newspapers are financial assets and nothing morenumbers to be rearranged on spreadsheets until they produce the maximum returns for investors. Theres no industry that I can think of more integral to a working democracy than the local-news business, he said. If they did it right, Venetoulis said, they just might be able to line up a local, civic-minded owner for the paper. If you're a reader of local newspapers particularly the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun or New York Daily News you're going to want to make sure the answer is yes. Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. Tribune Sale to Alden Approved by Shareholders - The New York Times And two, by at least 2013, those of us who worked at Alden-controlled papers (like me) were already experiencing the slashing and burning. Lee, which owns the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Omaha World-Herald and many other daily newspapers throughout the region, is staving off a takeover attempt by Alden Global Capital, a New-York . The rationale offered by the board was, Consistent with its fiduciary duties, Lees Board has taken this action to ensure our shareholders receive fair treatment, full transparency and protection in connection with Aldens unsolicited proposal to acquire Lee. How do you know who wins? the boy asks. Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is asking its shareholders to help it fight off a hostile takeover . Alden is not a newspaper company, says Ann Marie Lipinski, a former editor in chief of the Chicago Tribune. "[25], In early December, the board of Lee unanimously rejected the Alden bid, saying that the Alden proposal "grossly undervalues Lee and fails to recognize the strength of our business today. Neither man will ever be the guest of honor at the annual dinner for the Committee to Protect Journalistsand thats probably fine by them. Im worried the worst is yet to come. . As the months passed, things kept getting worse. A century later, the Tribune Tower has retained its grandeur. Some expressed exasperation with the staff of the Chicago Tribune, who were unable to find a single interested local buyer. It's newspaper-endorsement season again, and that means it's Should newspapers do endorsements?season again. Alden gradually took control of the papers that would become DFM. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for big newspaper chain Lee Of course, its easy to romanticize past eras of journalism. The editor in chief mysteriously resigned, and managers scrambled to deal with the cuts. Dec 9, 2021. This is predatory.. One known investor, however, is the Randall and Barbara Smith Foundation, named for Alden founder Smith and his wife. At one point, he told me, the citys entire civil-service commission was abruptly fired without explanation; his sources told him something fishy was going on, but he knew hed never be able to run down the story. Longtime Tribune staffers had seen their share of bad corporate overlords, but this felt more calculated, more sinister. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you . To David Simon, the whimpering end of The Baltimore Sun feels both inevitable and infuriating. In recent months, hes been meeting with leaders of local-news start-ups across the countryThe Texas Tribune, the Daily Memphian, The City in New Yorkand collecting best practices. Meanwhile, reporters fanned out across their respective cities in search of benevolent rich people to buy their newspapers. They had a father-figure relationship, one told me. But that would require slow, painstaking workand there are easier ways to make money. But there are some clues here and there. At their worst, they used their papers to maintain oppressive social hierarchies. It feels like were going up against capitalism now, Lillian Reed, the reporter who helped launch the Save Our Sun campaign, told me. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, known for making deep newsroom cuts, won approval to acquire Tribune Publishing, which includes the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News. NPR reached out to Alden for a response. Live news updates from February 28: Tesla to build Mexico - ft.com But by 2013, despite deep losses to Alden funds overall values in the previous two years, Smith was able to begin buying his now infamous swath of South Florida mansions for $58 million and Freeman was acquiring multi-million-dollar New York condos. Others pointed to Bainums financing partner, who pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour. A look at Alden Global Capital is the cover story of the latest . Well, he told me, they have some very good reporters., This article appears in the November 2021 print edition with the headline The Men Who Are Killing Americas Newspapers., A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms, I Dont Know That I Would Even Call It Meth Anymore, W. G. Sebald Ransacked Jewish Lives for His Fictions. With full control of Tribune Publishing, Alden Global Capital is scrambling to squeeze out a return on its $600 million investment in the struggling Chicago-based newspaper company. Last week, Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund notorious for slashing costs at its local titles, came down on the No side of the question, with editorial boards at papers that it owns stating that they will no longer endorse candidates for governor, US senator, or president. ", "Denver Post Rebels Against Its Hedge-Fund Ownership", "Tribune Says Sale to Alden Wins Approval Amid Confusion Over Key Shareholder's Vote", "Lee Enterprises Shares Jump on Takeover Offer From Alden", "The vulture is hungry again: Alden Global Capital wants to buy a few hundred more newspapers", "Colorado Group Pushes to Buy Embattled Denver Post From New York Hedge Fund", "The battle for Tribune: Inside the campaign to find new owners for a legendary group of newspapers", "Is this strip-mining or journalism? City budgets balloon, along with corruption and dysfunction. To replace a paper like the Sun would require a large, talented staff that covers not just government, but sports and schools and restaurants and art. The most promising prospect materialized in Baltimore, where a hotel magnate named Stewart Bainum Jr. expressed interest in the Sun. Alden Global Capital had recently purchased a nearly one-third stake in the Suns parent company, Tribune Publishing, and the firm was signaling that it would soon come for the rest. Many of the operators were looking at the newspaper business as a local advertising business, he said, and we didnt believe that was the right way to look at it. In 2011, Paton launched an ambitious initiative he called Project Thunderdome, hiring more than 50 journalists in New York and strategically deploying them to supplement short-staffed local newsrooms. Below are highlights from his conversation with Morning Edition's A Martnez. One early article, in the trade publication Poynter, suggested that Aldens interest in the local-news business could be seen as flattering and quoted the owner of The Denver Post as saying he had enormous respect for the firm. Freeman was clearly aware of his reputation for ruthlessness, but he seemed to regard Aldens commitment to cost-cutting as a badge of honorthe thing that distinguished him from the saps and cowards who made up Americas previous generation of newspaper owners. Billionaires battle for Tribune Publishing | The Economist At the Pioneer Press , where its staff is down to 60, the paper produced a . about two hundred American newspapers. This investment strategy does not come without social consequences. Convinced that the Sun wont be able to provide the kind of coverage the city needs, he has set out to build a new publication of record from the ground up. Updated May 21, 2021 at 2:13 PM ET. It . [2] Its managing director is Heath Freeman. This company that owns us now seems to still be prettyI dont even know how to put it, the editor said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Atlantic. Some in the industry say they wouldnt be surprised if Smith and Freeman end up becoming the biggest newspaper moguls in U.S. history. Prior to the buildings completion, McCormick directed his foreign correspondents to collect fragments of various historical sitesa brick from the Great Wall of China, an emblem from St. Peters Basilicaand send them back to be embedded in the towers facade. But most of them also had a stake in the communities their papers served, which meant that, if nothing else, their egos were wrapped up in putting out a respectable product. Knight first reported its investment in Alden in 2010, noting the fair market value of its Alden holdings was $13.4 million. , From the February 1905 issue: The confessions of a newspaper woman, The papers union hired a PR firm to launch a public-awareness campaign under the banner Save Our Sun and published a letter calling on the Tribune board to sell the paper to local owners. Theres little evidence that Alden cares about the sustainability of its newspapers. A reporter at one of his newspapers suggested I try doorstepping Smithshowing up at his home unannounced to ask questions from the porch. Live news: US manufacturing sector contracts for fourth straight month In early 2011, Alden was still considered a non-controlling investor, but by the end of the year, that would change. Hedge fund Alden in hunt for another big newspaper chain Today, we know that Knight, CalPERS and others no longer invest with Alden. It wasn't the first newspaper acquisition for this hedge fund firm, nor is it the only firm of its kind eyeing the nation's newspapers. I sort of bully people around to get stuff done, he boasted to The Washington Post in 1985. On Monday, Dail PDF GateHouse Media Alden Global Capital Tribune Media McClatchy Lee Maybe theyd cancel their subscriptions eventually; maybe the papers would fold altogether. (Freeman denied this through a spokesperson.) Tuesday, 23 November 2021 07:46 PM EST. Feb 16, 2021 at 8:05 pm. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, one of the country's largest newspaper owners with a reputation for intense cost cuts and layoffs, has offered to buy the local newspaper chain Lee Enterprises for . 'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys - NPR Hedge fund Alden in hunt for another big newspaper chain - WKMG * Edited from 'independent . As a reporter who's covered Alden Global Capital for more than two years, people often ask me who are the investors behind the hedge fund that owns one of America's largest newspaper chains?. Much of the Knight family's once-grand newspaper empire was ultimately acquired by Alden Global Capital, while the family foundation invested in Alden funds. Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that this year became the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, has made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises, the media company that owns 75 daily newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital in hunt for Lee Enterprises newspaper Three days later, Bainumstill smarting from his experience with Alden, but worried about the Suns fatesent a pride-swallowing email to Freeman. At the Suns peak, it employed more than 400 journalists, with reporters in London and Tokyo and Jerusalem. "A lot of cities almost operate with the assumption that there will be at least one local newspaper, in some cases several local newspapers, acting as a check on the authorities," he says. [14], Alden has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, one of the country's largest newspaper owners with a reputation for intense cost cuts and layoffs, has offered to buy the local newspaper chain Lee Enterprises . Its a hedge that went and bought up some titles that it milks for cash.. Collectively, they control about one-half of daily newspapers in the U.S. but sadly on a global scale there is hardly any independent news sources left currently. Even as Aldens portfolio grew, Freeman rarely visited his newspapers. Alden Global Capital seeks to buy Lee Enterprises for $144M He stops talking to the press, refuses to be photographed, and rarely appears in public. For two men who employ thousands of journalists, remarkably little is known about them. The firm oversaw the promotion of John Paton, a charismatic digital-media evangelist, who improved the papers web and mobile offerings and increased online ad revenue. Shareholders of Tribune Publishing, one of the country's largest newspaper chains, on Friday approved a takeover by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. The newsroom was moved to a single room rented from the local chamber of commerce. Tribune shareholders approve takeover by Alden Global Capital Opinions - Help yourself. Is it ever okay to nick an idea? Its hard to imagine theyd show, anyway. He had spoken on this issue before, and it was easy to see why. One, the warning shot was fired in 2011, in a Poynter Institute article titled Who is investor Randall Smith and why is he buying up newspaper companies? Randall Smith is the co-founder of Alden, together with his young protg, Heath Freeman, and has been called the grandfather of vulture investing. Vulture funds by definition dont reinvest in their properties they suck them dry. (PDF) Extractive Imperialism in the Americas | henry veltmeyer But years later, when Randy relocates to Palm Beach and becomes a major donor to Donald Trumps presidential campaign, it will make a certain amount of sense that his earliest known media investment was conceived as a giant middle finger to the journalistic establishment. Alden's holdings already spanned the country, including the . Two days after the deal was finalized, Alden announced an aggressive round of buyouts. The details of how Smith got to know him are opaque, but the resulting loyalty was evident. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital will acquire the rest of what it does not already own of Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and other local newspapers, in a . Alden Global Capital revealed a proposal Monday to purchase Lee Enterprise Inc. and its newspapers at $24 a share, casting alarm through the many newsrooms owned by Lee. The newspaper lost a quarter of its staff to buyouts after it was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May. I asked, What is the Foundations perspective on those investments now, as news of Aldens gutting of these newspapers has come to light?. A spokesman took issue with the entirety of the story, and laid out a long list of questions attacking the integrity of the reporter, The Atlantic and some of his sources without addressing some of the more specific claims within the report. Who Profits From Alden Global Capital? When it was over, a quarter of the newsroom was gone. Lee Enterprises rejects Alden Global Capital's unsolicited proposal But in the meantime, there isn't really anything that can fill the hole these newspapers will leave if they're shut down. Next up: Chicago, Baltimore, and the New York Daily News. If you went into a lab to create the perfect bro, Heath would be that creation, says one former executive at an Alden-owned company, who, like others in this story, requested anonymity to speak candidly. Aldens website contains no information beyond the firms name, and its list of investors is kept strictly confidential. As a reporter whos covered Alden Global Capital for more than two years, people often ask me who are the investors behind the hedge fund that owns one of Americas largest newspaper chains? And everyone knows its going to run dry.. With his own money, he helps his brother launch the New York Press, a free alt-weekly in Manhattan. Over the course of seven years, Alden doubled profits in its Bay Area News Group newspapers, another home to cutbacks. Alden Capital's gutting of the Denver Post is the most discussed example of this, but there are many others. '60 Minutes' correspondent Jon Wertheim on local newspapers - Poynter The 5 global Trends in Journalism: 1 We've moved from a world where media organizations were gatekeepers to a world where media still creates the news agenda, but platform companies control access to audiences 2 this move to digital media generally does not generate filter bubbles Instead automated Serendipity + incidental exposure drive people . They call Alden a vulture hedge fund, and I think thats honestly a misnomer, Johnson said. As a privately held hedge fund, Alden doesnt have to reveal much to the public. The largest share of the blame was assigned to the Tribune board for allowing the sale to Alden to go through. It was like watching a slow-motion disaster, says Gregory Pratt, a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. So what is this Distressed Opportunities fund? Module 5- Journalism.pdf - Journalism Modules - The 5 Ws The paper had weathered a decade and a half of mismanagement and declining revenues and layoffs, and had finally achieved a kind of stability. Already the largest shareholder . Smith began investing in newspapers and media around the same time. When I asked Freeman what he thought was broken about the newspaper industry, he launched into a monologue that was laden with jargon and light on insightsummarizing what has been the conventional wisdom for a decade as though it were Aldens discovery. In legal filings, Alden has acknowledged diverting hundreds of millions of dollars from its newspapers into risky bets on commercial real estate, a bankrupt pharmacy chain, and Greek debt bonds. Vallejo deserves better. A few weeks after the story came out, he was fired. The term vulture capitalism hasnt been invented yet, but Randy will come to be known as a pioneer in the field. After all, it has a long and venerable history of supporting local news. Hedge fund known for cutting journalism jobs is seeking to buy - CNN [4], Alden purchased a 5.9-percent stake in Lee Enterprises in January 2020. He was fired after criticizing Alden in a Washington Post interview. "[34], In October 2021, The Atlantic examined the impact of Alden's acquisition of the Chicago Tribune, noting that, "The new owners did not fly to Chicago to address the staff, nor did they bother with paeans to the vital civic role of journalism. Lee blocks Alden Global Capital move for more board control - STLPR Its a game, Randy explains to his son. Its not the name or the flag., He may get his wish. A vulture doesnt hold a wounded animals head underwater. After serving in the Carter administrations Treasury Department, Brian became widely knownand fearedin the 80s for his hard-line negotiating style. What happens next? Somehow, no one's buying it. There were sober op-eds and lamentations on Twitter and expressions of disappointment by professors of journalism. In May, the Tribune was acquired by Alden Global Capital, a secretive hedge fund that has quickly, and with remarkable ease, become one of the largest newspaper operators in the country. Alden Global Capital owns 56 dailies under Digital First Media (Alden also owns 32% of Tribune 10 dailies in Column C.) Tribune Media owns 10 dailies. The consequences can influence national politics as well; an analysis by Politico found that Donald Trump performed best during the 2016 election in places with limited access to local news. . In the face of that setback, Alden said it would turn to the tactic of filing a proxy statement asking the company's shareholders to vote no on board members Mary Junck and Herbert Moloney during the March 2022 board elections. It will rely initially on philanthropic donations, but he aims to sell enough subscriptions to make it self-sustaining within five years. October 14, 2021. But outside the industry, few seemed to notice. Several years later, when Heath was still in his mid-20s, Smith co-founded Alden Global Capital with him, and eventually put him in charge of the firm. Heath hopes the well never runs dry, but hes going to keep pumping until it does. It felt important. I felt like a terrible reporter because I couldnt get to everything.. Alden Global Capital swallowed all of the Tribune's newspapers, including the New York Daily News, earlier in 2021. Knight spokesman Andrew Sherry declined to answer any of those questions, saying instead, Our endowment investments support our grantmaking., We invested approximately one half of one percent of our endowment in an Alden fund between late 2009 and early 2014, he said via email. . The pay was terrible and the work was not glamorous, but Glidden loved his job. Otherwise, youre just peeing in the ocean..