According to the Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter said that last month, New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) was offered a formal bid which valued its Boston Globe subsidiary over $100 million, with about a third of the value coming from buyers assuming some of the newspaper’s pension liabilities.
Citing same sources, a report published on the Wall Street Journal on Friday said that New York Times was silently in touch with a potential buyer group, which included ex- President of Boston Globe, Rick Daniels and managing director Heberden Ryan of private equity firm Boston Post Partners.
The offer is still under negotiations; however this week the newspaper said that it had appointed Evercore Partners explore the New England Media Group business for potential buyout, whose key asset is the newspaper.
People familiar to the situation said that as a public company, New York Times was under obligation to disclose the sale process to thwart shareholder lawsuits.
The WSJ report added that many sources both from New York Times and Globe also disclosed that NYT has been eager to receive a bid from News Corp., which is the owner of the Wall Street Journal.
However, the report said that since regulatory rule disallows companies from owning newspaper business and television station simultaneously in the U.S. market, News Corp.’s ownership of a Boston television station would prevent acquisition of the Globe.
When contacted both New York Times and News Corp. refused to comment over the matter.
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