–
A group led by investor Jimmy Finkelstein has placed a formal bid to buy the New York Daily News currently owned by Mort Zuckerman, the rival NY Post has reported. There is no word yet as to the specifics of the offer.
Finkelstein is said to be only interested in the Daily News as a digital publication. The Post reported that if he acquires the paper then Finkelstein will sell its printing press.
He is a serial investor in news publications who currently owns The Hill, a Washington, DC, daily aimed at Beltway insiders, and who previously owned weekly newspapers in Manhattan, Dan’s Papers in the Hamptons and The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
No price offer has been revealed, but Zuckerman is said to want at least $150 million for it.
The Daily News is a tabloid known for provocative headlines and which is the perennial number two tabloid in New York City behind the much more popular Post. New York City’s number 3 overall newspaper is reportedly operating at a $30 million annual loss and has $150 million invested in its printing press.
Zuckerman made the investment in 2009 so that the paper could print every single one of its pages in color. But the upgrade has not helped circulation.
Taking on a losing operation with a large debt is partly why Cablevision’s owner James Dolan offered a whopping $1 to buy the Daily news lock, stock and barrel. In a statement Cablevision insisted that its offer was not just for the paper, but for its printing presses as well.
But the Post reports that the presses are now conducting a great deal of outsourced work, bringing in more than $1 million in annual profit on their own.
Leon Black is another one of a number of possible suitors for the publication. But media mogul Michael Bloomberg has stated that he is definitely not interested in it.
