Tronc buys NY Daily News for.....$1

[SoloFlyer]

Tronc - aka the ridiculous name for the Tribune Company - has purchased the NY Daily News.

The sale price? $1.

One. ****ing. Dollar.

Yeah, Tribune (I refuse to call it Tronc more than once) is assuming all of the debts and pensions, but still.

Tronc acquires New York Daily News

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Ugh. This seems to be the definition of better to reside with the devil you know.

 

[mpcincal]

Luckily, a photographer was able to sneak in a shot of the negotiations

 

[SnarkShark]

Tronc - aka the ridiculous name for the Tribune Company - has purchased the NY Daily News.

The sale price? $1.

One. ****ing. Dollar.

Yeah, Tribune (I refuse to call it Tronc more than once) is assuming all of the debts and pensions, but still.

Tronc acquires New York Daily News

Not to pick nits, but you called it Tronc more than once.

 

[DanOregon]

The NYDN started out as part of the Tribune empire.

 

[steveu]

One of my favorite Robocop scenes. Priceless.

 

[FileNotFound]

I guess the "What's-in-it-for-Tronc" part is the printing facility, which would allow them to print the Hartford Courant and Allentown Morning Call in NYC and close those presses.

 

[Bronco77]

At that price, hope Tronc gets its money's worth.

 

[reformedhack]

Not to be that guy, but the dollar is only a token. The real acquisition price is the dollar plus whatever sizable debt the NYDN has.

Zuckerman unloads his burden, Tronc acquires an outpost in the nation's No. 1 market. It's not a bad move — on paper, anyway — for either side. The real trick, of course, will be for the new owner to leverage having properties in the country's three biggest markets to find national advertisers who want a one-stop shop (and a likely discount for volume) to showcase their wares.

I honestly don't think that matters that much anymore, though.

 

[cjericho]

Costs me 1.25 for the Daily News in NJ.

 

[reformedhack]

Costs me 1.25 for the Daily News in NJ.

Now that's funny.

 

[expendable]

 

[Bronco77]

Not to be that guy, but the dollar is only a token. The real acquisition price is the dollar plus whatever sizable debt the NYDN has.

And who knows how much the Daily News has in the way of pension obligations?

I'm acquainted with several former Daily News folks down here who have retired to Boca Raton, and they're living rather cushy lifestyles.

 

[reformedhack]

Poynter had a decent explainer this morning:

Though the New York Daily News was sold for just $1 on Sunday, the new owner, Tronc, will inherit millions of dollars in cash as part of the deal.

The $8 million in "working capital" is part of a deal that includes significant costs, though: About $26.5 million in pension obligations, of which $2 million must be paid annually; $18.7 million in outstanding debt mostly tied to workers’ compensation and auto liabilities; and another $16 million in workers’ compensation and automobile insurance liabilities.

The details were spelled out in a recent disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also lists big-ticket assets that the previous owner left behind for Tronc. Most notably, Tronc will receive the newspaper’s printing plant, in which $150 million was invested a decade ago, in addition to the $8 million in "working capital."​

Tronc inherits $8 million cash prize in Daily News deal

 

[da man]

Poynter had a decent explainer this morning:

Though the New York Daily News was sold for just $1 on Sunday, the new owner, Tronc, will inherit millions of dollars in cash as part of the deal.

The $8 million in "working capital" is part of a deal that includes significant costs, though: About $26.5 million in pension obligations, of which $2 million must be paid annually; $18.7 million in outstanding debt mostly tied to workers’ compensation and auto liabilities; and another $16 million in workers’ compensation and automobile insurance liabilities.

The details were spelled out in a recent disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also lists big-ticket assets that the previous owner left behind for Tronc. Most notably, Tronc will receive the newspaper’s printing plant, in which $150 million was invested a decade ago, in addition to the $8 million in "working capital."​

Tronc inherits $8 million cash prize in Daily News deal

So adding up those liabilities and subtracting the $8 million in working capital, I get a total of $53.2 million for the NYDN, the printing plant and the real estate. That sounds like not a lot of money for that. Given the value of the real estate and the printing plant, I'm wondering if the cost of the Daily News might have been covered by that $1.

 

[goalmouth]

Didn't Tribune own the News in the 1990s? It did, when I worked there.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Didn't Tribune own the News in the 1990s? It did, when I worked there.

Yes. The Tribune company controlled it from its founding in 1919 until 1991. Then it was sold to Robert Maxwell, who went broke, and then to Zuckerman.

 

[I Should Coco]

In related news, the Anchorage Dispatch News (recently renamed; was the Anchorage Daily News) has been sold for $1 million. Three years ago, it was purchased for $34 million

Judge approves sale of Alaska's largest newspaper

Former publisher Alice Rogoff bought the Anchorage Daily News for $34 million from The McClatchy Co. in 2014. Since then, the renamed paper has been losing about $500,000 a month and entered bankruptcy on Aug. 12.
A bid of $1 million was submitted by the Binkley Co. and there also is a long list of creditors involving about $12.5 million in debt.
During Monday’s hearing, Rogoff was asked during her testimony if she thought the $1 million sale price was fair.
“No, but it’s my only offer,” she said.

 

[LanceyHoward]

In related news, the Anchorage Dispatch News (recently renamed; was the Anchorage Daily News) has been sold for $1 million. Three years ago, it was purchased for $34 million

Judge approves sale of Alaska's largest newspaper

Is this the only newspaper in Anchorage? Anchorage has a metro population of 400,000. I have not heard of a monoply newspaper

 

[I Should Coco]

Lancey: I believe it is. Sometime in the 1990s, the McClatchy paper (Anchorage Daily News) bought out a smaller, afternoon daily paper. For awhile — through much of the 2000s, I believe — the ADN carried two editorial pages, its own and the bought-out paper's (the bought-out paper was considered more conservative. Sorry I can't remember its name).

So other than an alternative weekly, I think the ADN is the only daily print publication in Anchorage.

The fact it's only worth $1 million says a lot about our industry.