The Denver Post, is bidding on the McClatchy newspaper empire of 30 of some of the nation’s largest

by Bob Sweeney

It is interesting to note that Alden Global Capital, present owners of The Denver Post, is bidding on the McClatchy newspaper empire of 30 of some of the nation’s largest and best newspapers. McClatchy is the second-largest newspaper chain in America owned by the famed California family for the past 163 years. A financial downturn occurred after they purchased the Knight/Rider chain in 2006 that left the company deeply in debt following the economic turndown later in 2008. McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 citing the twin burdens of debt from the 2006 purchase of the larger Knight Ridder chain and its legacy pension obligations. The company concluded in late December 2019 that it would be unable to meet a $120 million quarterly pension obligation coming due in September 2020.

McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, California and its newspapers are located in 14 states. They include The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

There are two major bidders for the newspaper chain on July 24, both giant hedge funds. Chatham Asset Management has been McClatchy’s largest creditor and was favored to win the bidding. Chatham had offered to acquire the company for about $300 million, using a combination of the debt credits and at least $30 million in cash. But Alden Global Capital has entered the fray and is no stranger to Colorado, owning The Denver Post, once owned by Denver newspaper mogul Dean Singleton.

Alden takes issue with Chatham using current and present debts as a bidding tool, but was not successful in that action last week, but are prepared to bid for the newspapers. Speaking for Alden, Lisa G. Beckerman, outside counsel to Alden, is quoted telling Judge Michael E. Wiles “… Alden has bought other newspapers out of Chapter 11. This is what it does as part of its strategy, It is good at saving publications and reviving them. That is what it does, and it has the money.” About a decade ago, Alden took over ownership of Singleton’s bankrupt Media News Group whose newspapers included The Mercury News in San Jose, and The Denver Post, among 200 other publications. Singleton had become the largest based newspaper publisher in Colorado newspaper history, but the timing was not on his side. Alden now owns about a third of Tribune Publishing Co. which twice discussed merging with McClatchy before the bankruptcy filing occurred.

The Sacramento Bee relates that in a recent profile of Alden, written by Heath Freeman of the Washington Post, that the number of U.S. newspaper employees has been cut in half since Alden entered the industry. He relates that Alden’s cuts have been deeper, more than 70 percent of unionized staff, according to the Communication

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