Freedom/OCR employees have been warned

My guess is the Tribune Company will win.

The Tribune strategy has been to buy as many papers as they can in markets where they already dominate (San Diego, Southtown papers in Chicago, etc).

Digital First buys newspapers anywhere and consolidates production at a hub. They seem to be pretty disciplined about what they pay. I also would guess the LANG papers are not doing very given the recent consolidations the company has just initiated in the Bay area. So Digital First may not want to dump a lot of money into SoCal.

So I think Tribune thinks OCR is a paper they have to have. I don't think Digital First thinks that about the OCR.

 

Tribune ownership of OCR could create more problems.....

Antitrust issues raised in newspaper sale

 

Not a done deal, but Trib/LAT has the lead heading down the stretch.

Here are the OCR versions from late last night ...

Local investors walk out as auction for OC Register, Press-Enterprise erupts into all-day battle

... and this morning:

L.A. Times owner wins auction for The Orange County Register, Press-Enterprise at $56 million

Here's the LAObserved entry from Kevin Roderick, who is a former LAT guy but is probably not as well connected there now as he used to be:

Tribune Publishing wins OC Register bidding

 

Commence layoffs in five and space cuts in three, two, one...

 

And the feds step in:

Justice Dept. files lawsuit to block Register sale to Tribune

 

Feisty!

"The division is living in a time capsule, with a framework that predates the arrival of iPhones, Google, Facebook, and modern media outlets that are killing the traditional newspaper industry," Meyer said. "It wasn’t competition from the L.A. Times that forced the Register into bankruptcy. It was the Internet and related technology."

 

Never figured I'd be "pro-monopoly" - but the suit is ridiculous. It isn't like jacking up subscription and ad rates has kept papers afloat, let alone allowed them to take advantage of their current market position. A "paper monopoly" isn't worth anything.

 

According to something I read by Ken Doctor, which I would like to link but can not find on his website, the reason the lawsuit can be a deal buster is that the Justice Department could force the OC Register to be operated independently while the suit is resolved. Tribune Publishing closed the year with 40M in cash and the new CEO invested 44M. Does Tribune Publishing commit the 56M and deplete about 67% of their cash and be forced to operate the current paper as a stand alone while they await a final disposition? If somehow they lose the court case what happens.



I

 

Another strange twist. Now it looks like Digital First (LANG):

Lawyer: Freedom to support Digital First Media bid for ownership of Orange County Register, Press-Enterprise

Brings us back to the question of flagship/leadership when the new acquisition is the better/bigger product.