Former owners of Los Angeles Times evince interest in buying it back
20 Jan 2007
Tribune Newspapers, the owner of the Los Angeles Times has been approached by its former owners, Chandler Trusts, for a possible $7.5-billion buyout. In 2000 the Chandler family had sold the Los Angeles Times and other papers to Tribune for $8.3 billion.
Two investors along with the Carlyle Group have also shown interest in acquiring its 25 TV stations, valued at $4 billion.
Tribune had launched a strategic review of its business last year, which could result in the sale of the entire company or its break-up. The Tribune group also owns, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel and Hartford Courant, TV stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
US newspapers have been hit by falling sales and advertising revenues and publishers have not been able to react to classified advertising gradually migrating to the internet. Accordingly, analysts find the interest in the Tribune surprising. In the last three years Tribune has cut nearly 1,500 jobs.
Among the prominent news chains to have been put on the block was Knight Ridder, publisher of the Miami Herald and Philadelphia Inquirer, which was bought for $4.5 billion by rival McClatchy group late last year.