Media purchases

March 2012 - The New Republic bought by a Facebook co-founder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_new_republic
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/03/new-republic-owner-editor-chris-hughes-116915.html

August 2013 - Boston Globe bought by owner of Red Sox, John Henry, who also owns a media company.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/08/03/New-york-times-sell-boston-globe-at-93-percent-loss
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/sports/red-sox-owners-purchase-of-boston-globe-leaves-journalists-wondering.html?pagewanted=all

In 2011, the Times turned down a $300 million offer from Aaron Kushner, CEO of Freedom Communications, Inc., publisher of the Orange County Register and other newspapers in California. This offer even included the assumption of pension liabilities, which are currently estimated at $110 million.

Henry is the principal owner of the Red Sox and Fenway Park, and his Fenway Sports Group owns 80 percent of the New England Sports Network as well as the English soccer club Liverpool and a Nascar Sprint Cup team. The Miami Heat’s LeBron James is a minority stakeholder in the sports group.

http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/washington-post-sale-further-devalues-newspapers-say-experts-108621

The New York Times Company sold the Boston Globe to Red Sox owner John Henry over the weekend for $70 million and with one major caveat. The media company had to assume $110 million in pension liabilities as part of the sale, meaning it actually lost $40 million on the deal, which included the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The Times paid nearly $1.1 billion for The Globe in 1993.

August 2013 - Newsweek bought
by IBT Media
http://www.foliomag.com/2013/newsweek-sold-ibt-media#.UgAZOdJwqSo

IBT Media is the New York-based, digital-only publisher of flagship brand International Business Times, as well as ten other online news sites. The deal splits Newsweek from The Daily Beast, which will remain with IAC. IBT will relaunch the brand under its former Newsweek.com URL.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/08/03/iac-sells-newsweek-to-digital-news-publisher-ibt-media/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBT_Media

August 2013 - Washington Post bought by Amazon.com founder, Jeff Bezos

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jeff-bezos-on-post-purchase/2013/08/05/e5b293de-fe0d-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html

http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/washington-post-sale-further-devalues-newspapers-say-experts-108621

The sale of the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos for $250 million on Monday underscores the steeply declining value of American newspapers and is ominous news for other marquee brands that are up for sale including the New York Times and Tribune Co.’s newspapers.

The Washington Post’s market cap of $4.2 billion would have suggested a higher price for one of the most distinguished brands in American journalism, according to analysts interviewed by TheWrap.

"By Don Graham selling this, he’s really started something in terms of devaluing newspapers," Ava Seave, a consultant at Quantum Media who teaches media strategy at Columbia Business School, told TheWrap. "By selling for a very low number it definitely makes comps for other newspapers more difficult."

The Washington Post Company (WPO-NYSE) has been consistently losing money, but its newspaper division -- the part that sold to Bezos – has been a major drain, hemmoraghing tens of millions per year, including $53.7 million in 2012. Last week, the parent company reported another loss for its newspaper division in its second quarter and acknowleded that the Post continued to suffer large print circulation declines.

#media