It’s never been cheaper to buy a newspaper
The recent Gannett offer for Tribune’s newspapers is just the latest in a long, sad slide
By Tim Townsend
It’s a buyer’s market for newspapers. One of the biggest names in the business, Gannett Co. said Monday it was hoping to buy another journalism behemoth, Tribune Publishing Co. The total value of the offer, which includes the assumption of Tribune’s debt, would be $815 million, according to Gannett. Which only sounds like a lot if you don’t look at the value of newspapers just one or two decades ago. The slide has not been pretty.
Given the current state, it’s easy to forget that some of America’s biggest fortunes, amassed by men like Joseph Pulitzer and E.W. Scripps, were made from the printed word. But today, the billionaires interested in the fourth estate got rich elsewhere — Jeff Bezos (Washington Post), John Henry (Boston Globe), Warren Buffett (Omaha World-Herald) — taking an interest in journalism later in life. And mostly they’re buying at bargain-basement prices.
The Wall Street Journal reported that newspaper valuations have actually ticked up in the last few years, but there’s no doubt that newspapers’ most recent two decades have been their worst. Here’s a grim look at the falling fates of five historic dailies.
Boston Globe/Worcester Telegram & Gazette
1993 — New York Times Co. buys the Globe for $1.8 billion*
1999 — Times Co. buys the Telegram & Gazette for $419 million
2013 — John Henry buys both papers from the Times Co. for $71 million
Valuation change: -96%
Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Daily News
2006 — McClatchy Co. sells both papers to Philadelphia Media Holdings for $605 million
2010 — Philadelphia Media Network buys papers at auction for $151 million after PMH files for bankruptcy
2012 — Interstate General Media buys both papers for $57 million
Valuation change: -91%
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
1998 — McClatchy buys paper for $1.7 billion
2006 — Avista Capital Partners buys paper from McClatchy for $623 million
2012 — Wayzata Investment Partners becomes majority owner with $123 million stake
Valuation change: -93%
Chicago Sun-Times
1994 — Hollinger International buys paper for $284 million
2009 — James Tyree investor group buys Sun-Times for $28 million after paper files for bankruptcy
2011 — Wrapports buys paper for $21 million
Valuation change: -93%
Chicago Tribune
2007 — Sam Zell buys the Tribune Company, which includes newspapers, radio and TV stations and the Chicago Cubs, for $8 billion.
2013 — After emerging from bankruptcy protection, the company spins off its nine newspapers as Tribune Publishing with a $350 million loan
2015 — Tribune Publishing buys the San Diego Union-Tribune for $85 million
2016 — Gannett announced an offer to buy Tribune Publishing for $815 million
*Figures adjusted for inflation
Sources: Pew Research Center, Chicago Tribune
