The New York Times Company announced that it was “in advanced talks” with a prospective buyer of 16 regional newspapers, according to
an article in the
New York Times.
The report said the negotiations with Halifax Media Holdings of Daytona Beach Fla., are “another indication the company was divesting itself of assets to concentrate on its core newspaper business.”
The Times Co. and Halifax are discussing the sale of the Times Co.’s Regional Media Group, which includes newspapers around the company, which have a total of 1,755 full-time employees. Analysts estimated that the price would be about $145 million, the
Times
article said. The report noted that Times Co. and Halifax have been in discussions for months.
In July, the Times Co. sold more than half its stake in the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox. The
New York Times
report said that its next move might be to sell the
Boston Globe.
A
Wall Street Journal
report
noted that the company tried unsuccessfully to sell the
Globe
in 2009.
Analyst Craig Huber of stock research firm Access 342 told the
Journal:
“All the company cares about at the end of the day is keeping afloat the flagship New York Times newspaper for the long term. Everything else in my opinion could be and would be put up for sale.”
Michael Golden — a member of the Sulzberger family, which controls the Times Co. — oversees the company’s Regional Media Group, the
Journal
report noted. (Sources:
New York Times,
Dec. 19, 2011;
Wall Street Journal,
Dec. 20, 2011.)
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