US Hedge Fund Alden's Consecutive Acquisitions of Media Companies

Tribune to Proceed with Acquisition of Local Newspaper Company R Enterprise

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] New York hedge fund manager Alden Global Capital (Alden) is reportedly pursuing the acquisition of regional newspaper company Lee Enterprises.

On the 22nd (local time), according to major U.S. media, Alden proposed a purchase price of $141 million (approximately 168 billion KRW) to Lee Enterprises. This price represents about a 30% premium over Lee Enterprises' closing price last week.

This hedge fund previously acquired the prominent U.S. newspaper company Tribune Publishing in May this year for $633 million (approximately 750 billion KRW).

Because of this, U.S. media have evaluated this as "another major newspaper chain acquisition attempt following Tribune."

Based in Davenport, Iowa, Lee Enterprises purchased and has been operating BH Media Group (31 daily newspapers, 49 weekly newspapers), which was previously owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, for $140 million (approximately 166 billion KRW) last year.

It publishes 75 local daily newspapers and over 350 regular publications across 26 states, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), Buffalo News (New York), Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia), and Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska).

Founded in Manhattan, New York in 2007, Alden already owns nearly 200 regional newspapers under the corporate name MediaNews Group (formerly Digital First Media).

Alden is known for pursuing 'dramatic' cost reductions through measures such as downsizing editorial departments after acquiring newspapers.

In the U.S., as newspapers face financial difficulties due to changing market conditions, aggressive acquisitions by large capital entities including hedge funds are taking place.

With the Tribune acquisition, Alden has risen to become the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S., following Gannett. Headquartered in Virginia, Gannett publishes over 260 daily newspapers, including the only national newspaper USA Today.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.