A Chicago Tribune vending machine or a “box of honor” sits on a sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois.
Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tribune Publishing’s largest shareholder, Alden Global Capital, said Thursday it had offered to take full control of the Chicago Tribune owner in a deal that values the company at $ 520.6 million.
Alden, known for its hostile takeover bids, has a 32% stake in Tribune.
The hedge fund’s offer valued the newspaper chain at $ 14.25 per share, representing a premium of 11.4% over the last closing price of the company’s shares.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the potential deal, said the hedge fund took third place on the Chicago Tribune’s board in July in exchange for an agreement to extend a lockout deal that would prevent Alden from increase its participation or make a hostile offer for the Tribune until after June 2021.
Tribune did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The newspaper chain, which owns the New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun, has seen a drop in revenue this year as the Covid-19 pandemic hits the publishing industry.
A study published last month found that print newspapers saw a decline in the general level of consumers amid the health crisis.
Commercial news media are hardest hit by the pandemic, especially those based on advertising, as well as local newspapers and media, according to the findings of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, a research center at Oxford University. which follows media trends.