Back Alden Global Capital Italian

Alden Global Capital

Alden Global Capital
Company typePrivate
IndustryInvestment management
Founded2007 (2007)
FounderRandall D. Smith
Headquarters
Lipstick Building, New York City, U.S.
Key people
Heath Freeman
ProductsHedge funds
AUM$1.04 billion
Number of employees
15[1]
ParentSmith Management LLC
Websitealdenglobal.com

Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith,[2] and is a division of Smith Management LLC.[3][4] Its managing director is Heath Freeman.[2][5] By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers.[6][7] The company added more newspapers to its portfolio in May 2021 when it purchased Tribune Publishing and became the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States.[8][9][10][11]

The company operates its media holdings through Digital First Media (DFM), which it acquired in 2010 after DMG's parent company, MediaNews Group, declared bankruptcy.[12] With its acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late May 2021, Alden is collectively the second-largest owner of newspapers in the United States, as calculated by average daily print circulation, second only to Gannett.[13]

In November 2021, Alden Global Capital made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises for $24 a share in cash, or about $141 million.[14] Lee owns daily newspapers in 77 markets in 26 states, and about 350 weekly and specialty publications.[15]

Newspapers in Alden's portfolio include Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Boston Herald, The Mercury News, East Bay Times, The Orange County Register, and Orlando Sentinel.[16][17]

Alden has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers.[18][19] In March 2018, Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for The Washington Post, called Alden "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism"[20] and Vanity Fair dubbed Alden the "grim reaper of American newspapers."[21]

Alden received critical coverage from the editorial staff at the Denver Post, who described Alden Global Capital as "vulture capitalists" after multiple staff layoffs.[12][22][23]

  1. ^ "Alden Global Capital LLC – NEW YORK , NY". investingreview.org. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Company Overview of Alden Global Capital LLC". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  3. ^ Walker, Randy (November 2, 2022). "A hedge fund-linked company bought a mobile home park. Many residents were told to pay hundreds more or be evicted". Cardinal News. Archived from the original on November 2, 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  4. ^ Reynolds, Julie (May 9, 2023). "The vulture fund that picked American newspapers apart has a new target". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  5. ^ Ellison, Sarah, "Heath Freeman of Alden Global Capital says he wants to save local news. Somehow, no one's buying it.", The Washington Post, June 11, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  6. ^ Jacobson, Savannah (June 29, 2020). "The most feared owner in American journalism looks set to take some of its greatest assets". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Nicholson, Kieran (March 8, 2018). "Minority shareholder sues Denver Post parent and NY hedge fund over 'breaches of fiduciary duty'". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  8. ^ Yoksoulian, Lois (June 2, 2021). "What does the Chicago Tribune sale mean for the future of newsrooms?". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  9. ^ Folkenflik, David (May 21, 2021). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". NPR. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference nyt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Jackson, David, and Gary Marx, "Opinion - Will The Chicago Tribune Be the Next Newspaper Picked to the Bone?" (op-ed), New York Times, January 19, 2020. Note: The writers were investigative reporters at The Chicago Tribune. Accessed January 20, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Ember, Sydney (April 7, 2018). "Denver Post Rebels Against Its Hedge-Fund Ownership". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  13. ^ Alpert, Lukas (May 21, 2021). "Tribune Says Sale to Alden Wins Approval Amid Confusion Over Key Shareholder's Vote". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  14. ^ Kellahar, Colin (November 22, 2021). "Lee Enterprises Shares Jump on Takeover Offer From Alden". MarketWatch. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  15. ^ Benton, Joshua (November 22, 2021). "The vulture is hungry again: Alden Global Capital wants to buy a few hundred more newspapers". Nieman Lab. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  16. ^ Ember, Sydney (April 12, 2018). "Colorado Group Pushes to Buy Embattled Denver Post From New York Hedge Fund". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  17. ^ Kalansooriya, Jay (June 23, 2023). "Why Hedge Funds Are Doing This?". Above The Fold. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  18. ^ Bauerlein, Monika (May 15, 2020). ""News is just like waste management."". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  19. ^ Izadi, Elahe; Ellison, Sarah. "The battle for Tribune: Inside the campaign to find new owners for a legendary group of newspapers". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  20. ^ Sullivan, Margaret (March 15, 2018). "Is this strip-mining or journalism? 'Sobs, gasps, expletives' over latest Denver Post layoffs". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  21. ^ Pompeo, Joe (February 5, 2020). "The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the Chicago Tribune by the Throat". Vanity Fair Blogs.
  22. ^ Sanchez, Robert. "How Massive Cuts Have Remade The Denver Post", 5280 (magazine), September 2016. Accessed February 13, 2020.
  23. ^ Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: By selling to America’s worst newspaper owners, Michael Ferro ushers the vultures into Tribune", November 2019, Nieman Lab. Accessed February 13, 2020.

Developed by StudentB