The company that operates The Detroit News and 74 other newspapers across the country has become the focus of speculation in the media industry after it ended a closely watched experiment in digital journalism called Project Thunderdome.
The company, Digital First Media, runs The News, Denver Post, San Jose Mercury-News and Salt Lake City Tribune, among other papers. Digital First Media is owned by a hedge fund, Alden Global Capital.
The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University reported Wednesday about the speculation the papers owned by Alden Global Capital could be sold after the shuttering of Project Thunderdome, a New York company that supplied national and international news to Digital First papers..
Nieman suggested the hedge fund’s patience has run out on its newspaper investment, Bill Shea writes in Crain's Detroit Business.
According to the Nieman story:
“The move also signals the fatigue of majority (Digital First) owner Alden Global Capital — and that it is readying its newspaper properties for sale. They’re not yet on the market, but expect regional auctions of DFM properties (with clusters around the Los Angeles area, the Bay Area, New England, Philadelphia, and Texas) — unless Alden can find a single buyer, which is unlikely.”
Newspaper industry analyst Ken Doctor, who authored the report today for Nieman, told Shea he had no immediate knowledge of how The News will specifically be affected, but doesn’t believe Alden would keep the paper.
“I would see no business reason for Alden to want to keep (the News), but rather to cash out,” he said via email.
In The New York Times, Digital First chief executive John Paton said “no decisions have been made” about selling newspapers.
Also on the auction block could be the Oakland Press in Pontiac, Macomb Daily in Mt. Clemens, The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, Shea suyggests.
Any attempt to sell The News would be complicated by the Joint Operating Agreement it operates under in Detroit with the Free Press, Shea explained:
While The News is owned by Digital First Media, it operates separately, under the terms of the JOA, Detroit News Publisher Jon Wolman said in an email to Crain’s this morning. The newspaper has not been part of Project Thunderdome.
