NYT to sell Boston Globe to Red Sox owner Henry
Print Edition
The New York Times Co has agreed to sell The Boston Globe to the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, John W. Henry, for US$70 million in cash, ending its 20-year ownership of the paper.
The transaction announced yesterday includes the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, related digital properties, and a direct mail marketing company.
This follows years of uncertainty for the Globe, which was put on the auction block twice.
The price is less than a tenth of what the New York Times paid for the Boston Globe when it bought the paper for US$1.1 billion in 1993. It bought the Telegram & Gazette for about US$300 million in 2000.
The New England properties were the last pieces of a once much bigger empire. The New York Times Co has sold off everything — TV and radio assets, US regional papers, digital companies, and stakes in sports ventures — to focus on its flagship and international edition.
“We are very proud of the association we have had with the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and we’re delighted to have found a buyer in John Henry, who has strong local roots and a deep appreciation of the importance of these publications to the Greater Boston community,” Mark Thompson, chief executive of The New York Times Co, said in a statement.
“As a result of this agreement, we will be able to sharpen our company focus on and investments in The New York Times brand and its journalism.”
Newspapers have been hit with challenges in recent years including a plunge in advertising revenue and readers who prefer to get news online.
For the New England papers, total revenue fell 7.4 percent in the second quarter to US$94.4 million on declines in advertising and circulation revenue.
Compounding problems that likely weighed down the price include significant pension obligations and difficulty of negotiating changes with more than a dozen labor unions.
The New York Times said on Thursday that it would maintain the pensions.
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