Shareholders of
Through its
Tribune offered little additional detail beyond the fact that it expects the deal to close on
The Alden deal is just the latest major acquisition of a newspaper company by an investment firm dedicated to maximizing profits in distressed industries. The collapse of print advertising as readers migrated to digital publications has rocked the traditional newspaper business. Publishers have shut down more than 2,000 papers over the past 15 years and half of newsroom jobs have disappeared.
Investment firm owners are often criticized for valuing profits over the mission of local journalism, and Alden is no exception.
The deal drew opposition from many of the company’s journalists in an unusual spate of employee activism. They set up rallies, tried to find local buyers and begged for a rescue in their own newspapers. They had rooted for a higher bid from hotel mogul
In a blog post, the president of the union representing Tribune journalists lamented that Tribune's shareholders had “ let everyone down ” by approving the deal, but said the union would “continue to hold
Confusion arose earlier in the day when a spokeswoman for Soon-Shiong said he “abstained” from the vote. According to Tribune’s
Neither Tribune nor its board made any public comments on vote result until late in the day Friday. In its statement, Tribune effectively confirmed earlier reporting attributed to unnamed Tribune officials that Soon-Shiong’s ballots were submitted without the “abstain” box checked, and so were counted as “yes” votes toward the Alden takeover in accordance with the instructions on the ballot. Tribune did not name Soon-Shiong directly, but said that proxies from “one of the company's largest shareholders” were submitted in this fashion.
Soon-Shiong's representative,
Legal experts agreed that if Soon-Shiong left his ballot blank, he likely did so deliberately.
One possibility, said
Alden became Tribune’s largest shareholder in 2019. The union representing Tribune’s journalists says the hedge fund’s cost cuts have already led to shrinking newsrooms and closed offices. A 2020 report from the University of North Carolina’s journalism school said the combination of Alden and Tribune would be the country’s second-largest newspaper publisher by circulation, behind Gannett.
Tribune itself is no stranger to cost cuts and shrinking newsrooms. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2012, it split from its TV broadcasting arm in 2014 and since then has bought and sold papers including the Los Angeles Times (sold), the
Overall, publishers have shut down more than 2,000 papers over the past 15 years; half of newsroom jobs have disappeared.
Investment firms have played a significant role in consolidating the industry as online competition drew away readers' attention and ad dollars. Hedge fund
An expected higher bid for the whole company from the hotel mogul Bainum never fully materialized after he was unable to find a buyer for the
Prior to his bid for all of Tribune, Bainum struck a side deal to buy Baltimore Sun Media from Tribune for
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An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Alden would gain control of the
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