The runner-up bidder, Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that controls more than 200 news outlets through MediaNews Group, lost out after having offered what amounted to approximately $210 million in debt and cash, according to a court filing. (An unspecified third party made a bid that was
The move to hedge fund ownership is part of a growing trend in the news industry, much to the chagrin of media advocates who have argued that financial firms do not make good stewards of a business built largely on holding the powerful to account.
Chatham is a major investor
A battle of the hedge funds is brewing in the bankruptcy auction of the McClatchy Company, one of the nation’s largest and most decorated newspaper chains, pitting Chatham Asset Management and Brigade Capital Management, both debt holders in the chain, against a newcomer to the proceedings, Alden Global Capital.
Chatham
McClatchy’s troubles can be traced back to 2006, when it bought its much larger rival, Knight Ridder, then the second-largest newspaper chain in the United States, for $4.5 billion, plus the assumption of $2 billion in debt. From the time shortly after the merger to the end of 2018, McClatchy’s
