Union-Tribune sold

Platinum Equity has turned around and sold the San Diego Union-Tribune two years after buying the newspaper. The new owner will be a real estate company MLIM, owned by Doug Manchester, reports The Wrap. Now, real estate entrepreneurs and newspapers don't always mix well (see here), but Manchester does have the advantage of being local.

Voice of San Diego had this to say in a story presaging the sale:

If Manchester bought the newspaper outright, he'd get a key piece of property that local real estate analysts have said was a valuable part of the Union-Tribune's 2009 sale to Platinum: The company's main building, which sits on 13 acres in Mission Valley, just south of the Fashion Valley mall.

Four Wednesday

1. Platinum Equity is exploring a possible sale, er divestiture, of the San Diego Union-Tribune. UT

2. The Associated Press releases new social media guidelines. AP (via Romenesko)

3. Simon Dumenco says punishment of Huffington Post writer for "over-aggregating" copy obscures the fact that over-aggregation of copy is a central Huffington Post strategy. Ad Age

4. Feeling claustrophobic about this weekend's Carmageddon carpocalypse? JetBlue had a solution - for $4, the Car-mageddon fly-over would have taken you from Long Beach to Burbank, or vice versa, allowing you to avoid all ground congestion. The trip would have taken 45 minutes, not counting security checks, but the flights are sold out anyway. JetBlue

Layoffs at the Union-Tribune

The San Diego Union-Tribune laid off five news staffers yesterday. The San Diego Reader has the story.

Union-Tribune editor to step down

Karin Winner, the respected editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune, told staff today that she plans to step down at the end of the year after 15 years on the job.

Winner leaves after a year of turmoil at the newspaper, which lost a substantial portion of its newsroom after being sold to a private equity firm from Beverly Hills.

The paper's publisher, Ed Moss, formerly the head of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, said the paper will begin an immediate search for Winner's replacement.

From the U-T:

Winner began her career in 1976 as a reporter at The San Diego Union, rising through the management ranks and assuming the role of executive editor of the newly merged San Diego Union-Tribune in 1992 (the merger of The San Diego Union and Evening Tribune). Three years later, she took on the lead role of editor of the county’s largest daily newspaper.

The paper won two Pulitzer Prizes during Winner's reign, in 2006 and in 2009.

Union-Tribune gets facelift

The San Diego Union-Tribune today unveiled its newly redesigned website. The front page is more colorful and relies on large photos and minimal text to draw readers to the day's top stories. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the link to the paper's story about the redesign to work.

Union dues?

Shortly after Platinum Equity bought the San Diego Union-Tribune in March, the union representing police officers in Los Angeles wrote a letter to the news owners demanding they make the paper's editorial pages more union friendly, even if it meant firing the editorial page writers.

Here's a part of what Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, wrote to Platinum CEO Tom Gores:

"Since the very public employees they continually criticize are now their owners, we strongly believe that those who currently run the editorial pages should be replaced."

On Wednesday, the new owners took a step in that direction by laying off the editorial and opinion page editors, along with more than 100 other workers. I know of nothing that suggests this is anything more than coincidence, but I agree with Ben at Infinite Monkeys that it deserves closer scrutiny.

As the Los Angeles Times reported, Platinum Equity "relies on a $30-million investment from the pension fund of Los Angeles police officers and fire fighters, along with large sums from other public-employee pension systems around the state, to help fund its acquisitions of companies."

Union-Tribune cuts 112

An updated story in the San Diego Union-Tribune puts the number of workers laid off yesterday at 112 - that's fewer than the 200 estimated by PaidContent, but still quite a crowd. The paper's new owners, Platinum Equity, had already cut 192 workers in May.

The U-T story is mucked up with a lot of noise about advertising and micro-zoning initiatives, and doesn't include a breakdown for how many people were cut from the newsroom. The paper's online rival, Voice of San Diego, has reported some of those names.

Layoffs at the Union-Tribune*,**,***

The Boston Globe signaled last week that layoffs were coming to the San Diego Union-Tribune and now the Voice of San Diego has confirmed the cuts are underway:

Bob Kittle, the editorial page editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune, has been laid off, according to newsroom sources. So has Bernie Jones, the editor of the newspaper's opinion page. ...

The newspaper is in the midst of laying off staffers throughout the business. We're working to confirm the size and scope of the layoffs[.]

The Globe mentioned the pending layoffs in a profile of the paper's new owner, Platinum Equity of Beverly Hill. The company, which bought the Union-Tribune in May and promptly laid off 192 employees, has put in a bid to buy the Globe from the New York Times Co.

*Update: PaidContent reports 200 people have been laid off at the Union-Tribune, which would cut the total workforce to 650.

Here's a part of the U-T's story announcing the layoffs and other changes at the paper:

The San Diego Union-Tribune said Wednesday that it is eliminating an undisclosed number of jobs as part of a package of initiatives that also includes new editorial and advertising offerings.

The company announced an advertising program that will allow micro-zoning for small businesses at lower, localized rates, as well as an editorial effort that will produce more local coverage of targeted communities.

It also announced a planned redesign of the company's SignOnSanDiego.com Web site, as well as an investment in a pagination publishing system it said would significantly streamline the newspaper's production process.

The company also said it would partially reverse pay cuts for remaining employees that were implemented in February.

“These initiatives, taken as a whole, strike a balance between our short-term economic reality and our long-term aspirations for growth and reinvention of our product,” Union-Tribune Publisher Ed Moss said.

(h/t LA Biz Observed)

**Update II: According to the communications director for San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, the U-T has fired military reporter Rick Rogers, cops reporter Mark Arner, photographer Laura Embry and North County editor Jim Okerblom.

(h/t Romenesko)

***Updated: The Union-Tribune has reported that the number of laid off is 112, not the 200 PaidContent reported.

The Platinum treatment

The Boston Globe profiles Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity, which bought the San Diego Union-Tribune in March and has put in a bid of $35 million to buy the Globe from New York Times Co.

Tom Gores is the billionaire owner. He's 45. He's used the cash he's made from his private equity investments to produce a Lindsay Lohan slasher film.

Good taste aside, the description of what's going on at the Union-Tribune should have the Globe staff frightened. In addition to the 192 layoffs instituted shortly after Platinum Equity bought the San Diego newspaper, the company has barred employees who leave from recruiting current employees for new ventures and hired "consultants" to monitor the productivity of reporters and editors.

The private equity firm brought in Ed Moss, a veteran downsizer who's worked at both the Akron Beacon Journal and the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, to become Union-Tribune publisher.

The Globe reports that another round of layoffs is expectd at the Union-Tribune next week.

Then there's the aggressive manner in which Platinum's attorneys tried to squash a story about two sexual harassment lawsuits that, along with those productivity consultants, raises serious questions about editorial independence and ethics.

Many argue Platinum only got into the newspaper game for the real estate - and the Globe has some prime real estate of its own.

From the Globe:

“They don’t care whether it’s a newspaper or a dairy or a gas station or a small engine manufacturer,’’ said the person close to the transaction. “They’re looking at the fundamentals of the business. If they think they can make money at a certain transaction price, they’re interested in that business.’’

Platinum Equity already has a regional office in Boston.

Some Union-Tribune real estate up for sale

The new owners of the San Diego Union-Tribune have put two of the newspaper's buildings on the market, the VoiceofSandiego.org reports. Platinum Equity, which paid just over $50 million earlier this year for all of the Union-Tribune's real estate holdings, has listed an abandoned property in La Jolla and a building in Carlsbad that houses the paper's North County newsroom for a combined $9.1 million.

VofSD said the listing prices are a good deal more than what Platinum paid Copley News when it bought the paper in March.

All of which seems to confirm what Ken Doctor at Content Bridges said shortly after the sale was announced, that the deal was all about the real estate:

Hard as it may be to believe, we may have entered a new rocky period for newspaper companies. It would be a period in which the real estate on which they sit determines their market value. Consequently, their real estate value may determine who wants to sell the newspaper property and who wants to buy it -- to get at the real estate.

Will the Globe go Intercontinental?

The owners of Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. have placed a bid to buy the Boston Globe, and I'm guessing it's not because they're interested in the articles.

From the Boston Herald:

“Intercontinental is interested in any good investment that offers superior returns for our investors, as well as opportunities for job preservation, and even job growth, for our union investors,” said a top executive for Boston-based Intercontinental ... “The Globe fits our profile.”

Since very few companies - especially ones with "real estate" in their name - think newspapers are great investments right now, what's the attraction? According to the Herald, the Globe owns some "prime property" along the I-95, which makes the proposal look a little like the deal Platinum Equity made to buy the San Diego Union-Tribune. Intercontinental also manages investment funds, including union pensions.

Speaking of which, the Herald reports that the largest union at the Globe has called for an equity stake in any new company. Assuming Intercontinental emerges as the buyer, that would at least leave one entity with an interest in the newspaper that wants to keep it a newspaper - albeit a much smaller one.

Of course, the New York Times Co. has yet to confirm it's going to sell the Globe. Putting the paper on the block could be a tactic to get the unions to sign off on wage and benefit cuts; or the wage and benefit cuts could be a tactic to make the Globe more attractive to a buyer.

Daily Breeze/Press-Telegram publisher heads to San Diego*

Mark Ficarra, who for the last 17 months served as publisher of the Torrance Daily Breeze and Long Beach Press-Telegram, announced today that he is leaving to become VP of sales and marketing at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Here's the memo to employees:

Fellow employees,

I wanted to let you know with this short note that I'll be leaving my position as publisher of the Daily Breeze and Press-Telegram. I've accepted a position as the vice president of sales and marketing at The San Diego Union-Tribune. I’ll remain at the company over the next few weeks.

The past 17 months that we've gone through together have been challenging but rewarding. We've weathered a severe economic downturn yet, through your hard work, we've put ourselves in a strong position for the months and years ahead. I can't tell you how proud I am of the work and dedication I've witnessed during my tenure here. I'm privileged to have had this opportunity, and thank you for all your efforts.

Mark

Ficarra is the second LANG executive to take a top job at the Union-Tribune since the San Diego paper was acquired by Platinum Equity. Last month, Ed Moss resigned as president and publisher of the nine-newspapers LANG chain to takeover as publisher of the Union-Tribune.

*Update: The Daily Breeze business section has more on Ficarra's departure. LANG has yet to name a replacement.

Detention for San Diego Union-Tribune employees

The new owners of the San Diego Union-Tribune have come up with a novel way to keep employees from wooing away their coworkers to the competition.

Voice of San Diego (one of the paper's chief competitors) reports that Union-Tribune owner Platinum Equity will require all of its employees to sign a contract that bars them from recruiting fellow workers, or those who left the paper within the last six months, to work for a competing outlet.

In exchange for signing the contract, the company promises to give the employees employment.

Given the fact the company is laying off 192 staffers today, U-T employees must be thinking of moving on. But I'm not sure why the paper would want to make those who remain feel trapped by putting a virtual chain on the door.

(VofSD via Romenesko)

LA cops bust on Union-Tribune

The union representing police officers in Los Angeles wants the San Diego Union-Tribune to make its editorial page more union friendly, even if it means firing the editorial writers.

Why would LA cops try to meddle with San Diego's newspaper? Because the paper's new owner, Platinum Equity of Beverly Hills, "relies on a $30-million investment from the pension fund of Los Angeles police officers and fire fighters, along with large sums from other public-employee pension systems around the state, to help fund its acquisitions of companies."

From the Los Angeles Times:

As [police union] League President Paul M. Weber views it, that makes the League part owner in the flagging Tribune and League officials are none to happy with the paper’s consistent position that San Diego lawmakers should cut back on salaries and benefits for public employees in order to help close gaping budget deficits.

"Since the very public employees they continually criticize are now their owners, we strongly believe that those who currently run the editorial pages should be replaced," Weber wrote in a March 26 letter to Platinum CEO Tom Gores.

The newspaper's editor was more than a little cool to the idea, and Platinum officials said they won't interfere with the paper's editorial decisions.

Massive layoffs at the Union-Tribune

It was expected that Platinum Equity would make job cuts a centerpiece of its restructuring plan at the San Diego Union-Tribune and today we learn their magnitude. Beverly Hills-based Platinum, which completed its purchase of the paper three days ago, announced that it would slash 192 positions between now and July 6.

The layoffs represent about 18 percent of the total workforce and will cut across all departments - there is no breakdown for how many newsroom staffers will be lost. About 850 employees will remain once the layoffs are completed.

The Union-Tribune story about the cuts notes that the paper just won a fourth Pulitzer Prize this year, for editorial cartoonist Steve Breen.

(Union-Tribune via Romenesko)

Four in the morning

1. The New York Times Co. decided yesterday to withdraw its threat to shutter the Boston Globe in 60 days after the company won concessions from six of the seven unions representing Globe workers. WSJ

2. Platinum Equity of Beverly Hills has completed its purchase of the San Diego Union-Tribune and has appointed Paul Bridwell, "an experienced turnaround specialist," to restructure the newspaper. U-T

3. The Los Angeles Times also hires people. Shane Goldmacher, the 25-year-old political blogger behind the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert, will move to the Times Sacramento bureau in June. Capitol Alert via LA Observed

4. Even The Onion is having financial trouble. fishbowlLA

I love you for your real estate*

What will the sale of the San Diego Union-Tribune to Platinum Equity mean for the newspaper? Ken Doctor, who writes at Content Bridges, analyzes the deal over at PaidContent. After surveying what Platinum Equity partner David Black has done at the Akron Beacon-Journal, and considering what Platinum really values in the deal, Doctor's prognosis is unsurprising: the new owners will cut.

Doctor writes:

Judging from Akron, we can intuit that the new private-equity owners and David Black will look first to “efficiencies.” That means less headcount and a concentration on lower-paid, less-experienced reporting staff. Morale—never a newspaper strong suit—will take another hit.

-snip-

The Union-Tribune will get smaller and much more locally focused. And that real estate under its building (and the Union-Tribune’s other San Diego real-estate holdings, which are part of the deal)—that is the real motivator for the purchase. Consider that the Blethen Maine Papers (owned by the Seattle Times publisher) are about to be auctioned off for the value of the related real estate – not that of the papers. This is a big trend worth watching. Commercial real estate has seized up in the recession and the credit crunch. But that’s cyclical. It will come back—and far faster than metro-newspaper values – and therein may lie the next chapter in newspaper ownership.

*Update: Alan Mutter agrees.

'Fire-sale price'

The Wall Street Journal story on the sale of the San Diego Union-Tribune to Platinum Equity has a little more information about the price:

The deal price wasn't disclosed, but a person familiar with the matter said it was less than $50 million, a price largely driven by the Copley Press real estate, which includes the complex housing the Union-Tribune and another facility. The value of the assets -- even amid a downtrodden real-estate market -- gives the buyers some cushion against the struggling newspaper, according to people familiar with the matter.

The fire-sale price reflects the dried-up market for big newspapers. A number of papers have been put up for sale in the last year, but bankers say suitors are staying on the sidelines while it is hard to predict when advertising declines will hit bottom. E.W. Scripps Co. recently closed the Rocky Mountain News and Hearst Corp. this week ended the print edition of its Seattle Post-Intelligencer after the papers attracted no serious offers.

Union-Tribune sold to private equity firm

Copley announced today that it has sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity for "an undisclosed price."

This effectively ends Copley's run as a newspaper company. But what does it mean for the Union-Tribune? For one thing, it means the paper isn't going to close down - at least not yet. Officials at Platinum have swaddled the sale in vapid business lingo, which offers little to chew on. For example:

Louis Samson, the Platinum Equity principal leading the Union-Tribune acquisition, called the newspaper “a good fit for Platinum” and its operations-focused approach.

The Canadian publishing company Black Press has a stake in the deal. From the Union-Tribune:

The firm said in a statement that its team includes David H. Black, whose company Black Press owns dozens of community newspapers, mostly in western Canada, and has expanded its U.S. presence with acquisitions of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2000 and the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal in 2006.

Black Press ran into some controversy in 2007 for criticizing the judgment of reporters and editors at the Victoria News after they ran a story that offended a major advertiser.