Aug 22, 2011

Stalled negotiations in bid for OC Register stall again

Europe is always doing something. And this time, that something is being blamed for delaying the sale of the Orange County Register.

According to the Wall Street Journal, MediaNews Group's $350 million bid to buy the Register and the rest of Freedom Communications's newspaper holdings stalled because of instability in the markets caused by the European debt crisis.

Talks stalled earlier this year over price, but apparently MediaNews, through a number of cost-cutting actions, offered enough money to get Freedom on board. The Journal says talks might resume in a few weeks, if the markets calm down a bit.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

$350 million- and all of his little worker bees without pay raises, no vacation accruals, no 401K contributions, no overtime pay (although many do work longer than an 8 hr day), no water or coffee. Just an amazing company. Good luck to whoever they buy.

Anonymous said...

Waiting for the markets to calm down is a great way to run a company. Great vision, financial planning and did I mention vision. If I were an employee of the ocr and knew that the medianews dysfunctinal train was heading my way, I'd run as fast as I could anywhere else. They think they hold a royal flush but have no money to bet. The problem is, they aren't playing poker...poor bastards.

Anonymous said...

Run where? LA Times is laying off and can't even get out of bankruptcy. They just ordered no overtime pay.
Lee Enterprises stock is under $1 and the Platinum crowd in SD can't wait to dump the thing they call 'U-T'.

Anonymous said...

I made a decision years ago to leave the state with small children to escape the So Cal web. That was many years ago before the implosion of newspapers that you see today. I wanted to stay in the business and felt that there were no other options within the state. Lucky things worked out. It is much tougher now, but, you kow the axe is headed your way with these bozos and at best you won't like how they dance. Didn't say it was an easy decision, but, I'd sure try.

Anonymous said...

No water or coffee? Before I left for greener pastures, I had no working telephone on my desk.

Anonymous said...

you had a desk?

Anonymous said...

It's not even just a matter of no raises or vacation accrual anymore, these people also took a 5% pay cut recently.

Anonymous said...

they have taken bigger hits than those. Aside from pay cuts, raises eliminated, 401k cuts etc, they have no future with that company.Even the best have no job security or future. They are a bankrupt company on many fronts.

Anonymous said...

Media News slaughters BANG operation.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/143723/bay-area-news-group-rebranding-plan-results-in-120-job-losses/

Anonymous said...

grab your ankles kids! Every time Medianews looks to take over another company it means more cuts. Online media does not need excess liability, namely employees.