Technology
A former hedge fund manager is bidding for newspaper company Tronc
-
Former hedge fund manager William Z. Wyatt is leading a
group of investors that are close to a deal to acquire
newspaper publisher Tronc, sources told Business
Insider. -
Wyatt was previously a manager at Starboard
Value. -
At least one other private equity bid for Tronc may
also be in the works, the Chicago
Tribune reported on Wednesday.
An investment group formed by former hedge fund manager William
Z. Wyatt is close to a deal to acquire newspaper publisher Tronc,
according to people familiar with the matter.
The people cautioned that there is no certainty a deal will be
reached.
Reuters earlier reported on the talks.
Wyatt was previously a manager at Starboard Value until June
2018, a New York-based investment adviser with a history of
investing deeply undervalued publicly traded US companies and
pushing them into mergers and acquisitions, as it did with
Internet pioneer Yahoo in
2016.
At least one other private equity bid for Tronc may also be in
the works, Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday.
The Tribune said the group is bidding between $19 and $20 per
share for the publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other
newspaper holdings. At its mid-point, this would value the
company at roughly $740 million.
Shares of Tronc closed at $16.64 on Wednesday, meaning it has a
market value of around $620 million.
Politico was the first to report about “industry rumblings” of an
offer for the company from a private equity firm in July.
While financial buyers have mostly avoided newspapers in recent
years, several prominent names were reported to have been
circling Tronc in recent months, including SoftBank and private
equity firm Apollo Global Management.
Tronc already sold its other newspapers including the Los
Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year
to billionaire investor Patrick Soon-Shiong for $500
million.
The fate of the company has been in question since former
chairman Michael Ferro decided to sell his controlling stake in
the company in April to
McCormick Media which eventually fell through. Since then,
top executives have been consumed with trying to sell it, sources
say.
-
Business6 days ago
Langdock raises $3M with General Catalyst to help businesses avoid vendor lock-in with LLMs
-
Entertainment5 days ago
What Robert Durst did: Everything to know ahead of ‘The Jinx: Part 2’
-
Entertainment5 days ago
This nova is on the verge of exploding. You could see it any day now.
-
Business5 days ago
India’s election overshadowed by the rise of online misinformation
-
Business4 days ago
This camera trades pictures for AI poetry
-
Business5 days ago
CesiumAstro claims former exec spilled trade secrets to upstart competitor AnySignal
-
Business7 days ago
Screen Skinz raises $1.5 million seed to create custom screen protectors
-
Entertainment7 days ago
Dating culture has become selfish. How do we fix it?