Brian Gongol
Here comes the (foreign) cavalry
The deal allowing a Mexican billionaire to rescue the New York Times Company in exchange for a plurality share in the company has just been confirmed, and Lee Enterprises might be looking for a similar deal as it looks desperately for a rescue as its cash runs out. All the stock in the company -- which owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- could be purchased for about $17 million. So an enterprising individual (or sovereign-wealth fund) with $1.3 billion to burn could buy the stock for next to nothing, pay off the company's debt, and own 49 daily newspapers and hundreds of weeklies in 23 states. Or they could just wait for the company to declare bankruptcy and buy the newspapers in asset sales. Either way, there's practically no way to see how the company can stay in one piece. The real question becomes: Who will own the pieces when the dust settles?
Nebraska AWWA enters the Facebook era
