Mar 9, 2011

Bidding deadline for Freedom Communications approaches

Bids to buy Freedom Communications, the publisher of the Orange County Register, are due by tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Bids for assets of the Irvine, Calif., media company, which owns the Register as well as other newspapers and local television stations, are due Thursday, the people said. Possible bidders include Denver Post publisher MediaNews Group Inc.; Tribune Co.; Gores Group; and Platinum Equity, owner of the San Diego Union Tribune, these people said.

-snip-

It remained unclear what prospective bidders might offer for Freedom's assets and which pieces each might pursue. The entire company won't likely fetch more than $1 billion, said people familiar with the matter.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never had to declare bankruptcy, a fact that keeps me from qualifying to go into even more debt and buy another newspaper.

Anonymous said...

I guess you are not Dean Singleton.

Anonymous said...

Bring a recorder or note pad when you go to HR

Anonymous said...

do you think the company and HR would not tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? of course not, they just have a short memory.

Anonymous said...

Regardless of who buys Freedom. I wonder how many people will get laid off once the takeover starts?

Anonymous said...

how about lots.

Anonymous said...

Two Faced

2008
MediaNews Group Inc. CEO Dean Singleton.

"In today's world, whether your desk is down the hall or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn't matter,"
"One thing we're exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers in MediaNews ... maybe even offshore,"

Dean Singleton Response to Union Feb 14 2011

Contrary to the assertions made in the release, there are no plans for "national consolidation" of MNG's editing processes.

While we constantly assess better ways to serve our readers in this changing and uncertain world, including the Guild in these considerations are not a part of those assessments.

Anonymous said...

See, Dean and his merry band, you can add Zell and many others here, seem to forget that some people remember what they said even if they don't. Does the term full of crap mean anything? If they don't remember that may be worse. These are the leaders, the people taking newspapers to the promised land...bankruptcy, unemployment, and extinct.

Anonymous said...

Do you guys smell that? .... Layoffs are a'comin'! Watch out OCR

Anonymous said...

Has anyone heard who won the bidding?

Anonymous said...

It depends on who buys Freedom as to who gets downsized. In some scenarios it would be individual Freedom properties. In other scenarios it could actually be the purchaser's group who gets downsized. It will come down to which group is the best suited to compete. However, there will be downsizing, that is for sure.

Anonymous said...

Best suited to compete...how about none of the above. Why do you think they are for sale and another bankrupt company is looking to buy?