Daily news owner ready to buy Tribune option on paper. (Up Front).The owner of the Daily News of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. said he is prepared to repurchase an option held by Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). owner Tribune Co. to buy his paper - part of a secret loan deal cut between the two dailies four years ago. Then-Times owner Times Mirror Corp. paid $2.4 million in 1998 for an option to purchase the Daily News at fair market value beginning in 2003 and expiring in 2010. The deal was made at the same time the company was loaning William Dean
William Dean (b. 1840-01-08, d. 1905-09-04) was the Chief Locomotive Engineer for the Great Western Railway from 1877, when he succeeded Joseph Armstrong. Singleton's MediaNews Group Not to be confused with Media General, an unrelated newspaper and TV group. MediaNews Group, based in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. Inc. $50 million for its acquisition of the Daily News. The value of the option is increasing at a fixed rate and set to top out at $26 million in 2010. If Tribune, the Times' new owner, does not act before then - and the company is not revealing what its plans are - Denver-based MediaNews would be required to buy the option at that price. Singleton sin·gle·ton n. An offspring born alone. singleton Medtalk One baby. Cf Triplet, Twin. and others say the Times had asked for the option to facilitate the sale of the Daily News to privately held MediaNews in order to prevent the Orange County Register or a larger competitor from entering the Los Angeles market. Singleton said he agreed to the option knowing any attempt by the Times' owner to exercise the option and buy the Daily News would almost certainly run afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. federal anti-trust laws. Security deal The companies managed to keep the unusual arrangement quiet until 2000, when the Times reported on the deal. "They didn't want us to turn around and sell it to Rupert Murdoch or the Orange County Register the next year," Singleton said. A Tribune spokesman said the company would not comment on the option, which can be sold anytime after Jan. 31, 2003. "It was security for them," Singleton said. "Because we were going to be in business together, the Times wanted to feel comfortable with who their partner was going to be." Shortly after the Daily News sale, Times Mirror and MediaNews entered an advertising alliance for pre-print inserts that prompted an investigation by the Justice Department into possible collusion An agreement between two or more people to defraud a person of his or her rights or to obtain something that is prohibited by law. A secret arrangement wherein two or more people whose legal interests seemingly conflict conspire to commit Fraud . The agreement was found not to be anti-competitive and continues to this day. In its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, MediaNews reported it was accruing funds "to repurchase an option held by a third party to acquire one of our papers." Though private, as a media company MediaNews is subject to certain financial reporting requirements. Singleton acknowledged that the third party was Tribune and that the paper was the Daily News. However, he said he had no knowledge that Tribune intended to sell the option. "We're prepared to buy it back, but it's Tribune's call," Singleton said. There has been speculation that Times Mirror took the option on the Daily News in anticipation of a relaxation of federal media ownership rules that might pave PAVE Cardiology A clinical trial–Post AV Node Ablation Evaluation the way for the company to own both papers. In fact, similar rules have been relaxed by the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. in regard to individual ownership of radio and television stations in a given market. But unlike broadcast stations, typically there are only one or two daily newspapers in most cities. And federal officials have not shown the same enthusiasm for revisiting newspaper ownership rules that they have for broadcast media. "There might be a feeling (at Tribune) that over time the Justice Department might change its point of view," said Lauren Rich Fine, an analyst with Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER TYO: 8675 ), through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related products and services on a global basis. Global Securities. "But I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. that that's a rule that would change anytime soon." Singleton's reasoning Singleton said his company never intended to sell the Daily News and the only reason he signed off on the option was his belief that the Justice Department would not agree to a Times purchase of the paper. Meantime, Fine said that whether or not Singleton is prepared to buy back the option, it would probably be in MediaNews' interest to have it remain with Tribune for now. "(Singleton) likes working with other people's money," Fine said. "Given where we are in the newspaper market, where business has been weak, it's a bad time to spend your cash." The acquisition of the Woodland Hills-based Daily News was considered a key component in MediaNews' strategy to ring the Los Angeles metropolitan area with local newspapers that would provide formidable competition for the Times. Besides the Daily News, MediaNews owns the Long Beach Press Telegram, Pasadena StarNews, San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. Tribune, San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. Sun and more than 20 other papers, including the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune. It is the country's seventh largest newspaper chain, reaching more than 2.5 million subscribers everyday. The Daily News is the second largest daily paper in Los Angeles. It has daily circulation of 177,000 and Sunday circulation of 200,000, compared to 1 million and about 1.4 million for the Times. RELATED ARTICLE: The Deal MediaNews Group owner William Dean Singleton William Dean Singleton is the chairman of the board of directors of the Associated Press, on which he has sat since 1999. He is also the founder, vice chairman and chief executive officer of MediaNews Group, the fourth-largest newspaper company in the United States in terms of received help from Times Mirror Corp. when he purchased the Daily News in December 1997. * Times Mirror Corp. loaned Singleton $50 million. * Times Mirror paid $2.4 million for an option to buy Daily News at fair market value between 2003 and 2010. * Value of option, which is now held by Los Angeles Times owner Tribune Co., increases at a fixed rate, topping off at $26 million in 2010. * If Tribune doesn't exercise or sell back its option by 2010, Singleton would be required to buy it back for $26 million. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion