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A Swiss billionaire in his eighties who has made Wyoming his home and donated hundreds of millions to environmental causes is a surprise new player in the tender for Tribune Publishing, the major newspaper chain that until recently appeared destined to end up in the hands of a New York. hedge funds.
Hansjörg Wyss (pronounced Hans-yorg Vees), the former chief executive of medical device maker Synthes, said in an interview on Friday that he had agreed to join Maryland hotelier Stewart W. Bainum Jr. in a offer for Tribune Publishing, an offer that could upset Alden Global Capital’s plan to fully appropriate the company.
Mr Wyss, who gave up some of his fortune to help preserve wildlife habitats in Wyoming, Montana and Maine, said he was motivated to join the Tribune’s candidacy by his belief in the need for a strong press. “I have the opportunity to do 500 times more than what I’m doing now,” he said.
Alden, which already owns around 32% of Tribune Publishing’s shares, is known to dramatically cut costs for newspapers it controls through its subsidiary MediaNews Group. Last month, the hedge fund struck a deal with Tribune, whose newspapers include The Daily News, The Baltimore Sun and The Chicago Tribune, to buy the remainder of the company’s shares at $ 17.25 each.
As part of the plan, Mr Bainum, a longtime Marylander, agreed to start a nonprofit group that would buy The Sun and two other Maryland newspapers owned by Tribune from Alden for $ 65 million. However, shortly after the deal was struck, negotiations between Mr Bainum and Alden were stalled. This prompted Mr Bainum, the president of Choice Hotels International, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, to bid on March 16 across the entire Tribune, beating Alden’s number with an offer of 18. , $ 50 per share.
The offer valued the company at around $ 650 million. The Alden deal valued Tribune at around $ 630 million.
Tribune was not influenced by Mr. Bainum’s offer. A securities filing released on Tuesday revealed that the company’s board of directors had recommended shareholders approve Alden’s offer. At the same time, the Tribune board gave Mr Bainum the green light to continue funding his higher bid.
This is exactly what he did by teaming up with Mr Wyss, who said in the interview that he planned to own the company’s flagship newspaper while he and Mr Bainum sought benefactors for them. seven other Tribune metro dailies, including The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant. .
“He made this offer because he wants the Baltimore Sun,” Mr. Wyss said, referring to Mr. Bainum. “I said, ‘Yeah, that’s good. And I have to make The Tribune even better than it is now. ”
The agreement concluded by MM. Wyss and Bainum is non-binding, Mr Wyss said. He added that he has met in recent days and is detailed in a letter he sent to Mr Bainum on Friday. A person familiar with the discussions between Mr Wyss and Mr Bainum confirmed that each man planned to pay $ 100 million for the $ 650 million offer, and Mr Wyss said he would be prepared to provide additional funds for debt financing.
Mr. Bainum declined to comment. A spokesperson for three members of the Tribune board of directors not affiliated with Alden declined to comment. A spokesperson for Alden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ten years ago, Mr Wyss led the sale of Synthes to Johnson & Johnson for around $ 20 billion. Mr. Wyss and his family – a daughter, Amy, also lives in Wyoming – held the largest stake in Synthes, owning nearly half of the shares.
The sale of Tribune, which the news company hopes to close by July, requires regulatory approval and favorable votes from the company’s shareholders representing two-thirds of the non-Alden shares. Medical entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the Los Angeles Times with his wife, Michele B. Chan, has enough Tribune shares to crush the Alden deal himself. Dr Soon-Shiong declined to comment on Saturday.
Mr. Wyss said he would be a civic guard for the Chicago Tribune. “I don’t want to see another newspaper that has a chance to increase the amount of truth being told to the American people,” he said.
Alden’s potential acquisition of Tribune has been fiercely opposed by many Tribune newspaper reporters. Alden has significantly reduced the costs of many of the MediaNews group’s publications, including The Denver Post and The San Jose Mercury News. Critics say the hedge fund sacrifices journalistic quality for greater profits, while Alden argues that it is saving newspapers that would otherwise join the thousands of people who have gone out of business over the past two decades.
Mr Wyss, 85, said he was partly inspired to join Mr Bainum by a New York Times opinion piece last year in which two Chicago Tribune reporters, David Jackson and Gary Marx, warned that a purchase from Alden would lead to “a ghost version of the Chicago Tribune – a newspaper that can no longer carry out its essential surveillance mission.” “Since the publication of this article, the two journalists have left the newspaper.
Bern-born Mr. Wyss first visited the United States as an exchange student in 1958, working for the Colorado Highway Department. He was a journalist in his youth, he said, covering skiing for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Zurich newspaper and depot of dispatches on American sports at Der Bund, a Bernese newspaper, while studying at Harvard Business School.
He said he believed the Chicago Tribune would thrive under his ownership.
“Maybe I’m naive,” Mr Wyss said, “but the combination of giving enough money to professional staff to do the right things and spending a lot of money on digital will ultimately make it a newspaper. very profitable. “
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