{"id":14874,"date":"2017-07-12T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=14874"},"modified":"2017-07-14T04:02:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T09:02:48","slug":"done-deal-eisendrath-beats-tronc-buy-sun-times-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/07\/12\/done-deal-eisendrath-beats-tronc-buy-sun-times-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Done deal: Eisendrath beats tronc to buy Sun-Times, Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Chicago Sun-Times<\/p><\/div>\n

In the end, one man made all the difference.<\/p>\n

Edwin Eisendrath, the former Chicago alderman who ran losing campaigns for governor and congressman earlier in his career, just won the most unlikely challenge he\u2019d ever undertaken: He kept the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> independent and out of the clutches of Chicago Tribune owner tronc.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was bashert<\/em>,\u201d Eisendrath told me, using the Yiddish word for \u201cdestiny.\u201d How else to explain the odds he overcame to make it happen?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Edwin Eisendrath<\/p><\/div>\n

On Wednesday, Eisendrath and a coalition of labor unions and individual investors closed on the purchase of the daily Sun-Times and the alternative weekly Chicago Reader <\/a>from Wrapports Holdings LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources said the key was securing more than $11.2 million in escrow to cover projected operating losses over the next two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday's deal to buy the Sun-Times preserves two independent newspaper voices in Chicago, a rare thing in America these days,\u201d Eisendrath tweeted. <\/a>\u201cWe wanted to make sure that Chicago had a genuine voice with honest and good reporting that connects with working men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight weeks ago it seemed all but certain tronc would take over the Sun-Times in a move that many believed would have stifled competition and led to the inevitable demise of the city\u2019s No. 2 newspaper. All that stood in the way of the deal was the vigilance of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.<\/p>\n

Alone in answering the Justice Department\u2019s call for alternative bidders was Eisendrath, backed by the Chicago Federation of Labor and a belief that the Sun-Times was too vital to the life of the city to forfeit its independence.<\/p>\n

Tim Knight, who once ran the Sun-Times as CEO of Wrapports and now heads troncx, the digital content and commerce division of tronc, officially conceded on behalf of the company and his boss, Michael Ferro, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTronc has always been committed to keeping the Sun-Times an independent media voice within the city of Chicago,\u201d Knight said. \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to see that happen and we look forward to the new owners honoring our contractual agreement for printing and distribution services under the terms of our multi-year agreement. Tronc will move ahead to execute our growth strategy, leverage technology and increase the digital audience of our award winning journalistic brands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, had no comment.<\/p>\n

Eisendrath\u2019s group, ST Acquisition Holdings LLC, also is expected to acquire Answers Media, a digital production center at 30 North Racine Avenue. It will serve as the new headquarters of the Sun-Times when the newspaper\u2019s lease expires at 350 North Orleans Street in November.<\/p>\n

A native Chicagoan with a Harvard education, Eisendrath, 59, represented the 43rd Ward in the Chicago City Council from 1987 to 1993. As a rookie alderman, he unsuccessfully challenged Sidney Yates for U.S. Congress. Years later he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor against incumbent Rod Blagojevich. He\u2019s now managing partner of StrateSphere Global Initiatives.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of the Justice Department\u2019s statement on the sale:<\/strong><\/p>\n

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STATEMENT ON THE CLOSING OF ITS INVESTIGATION INTO THE POSSIBLE ACQUISITION OF\u00a0CHICAGO SUN-TIMES\u00a0BY OWNER OF\u00a0CHICAGO TRIBUNE<\/em><\/p>\n

Public Sale Process Resulted in Alternative Buyer of the Chicago Sun-Times<\/em><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Department of Justice\u2019s Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after announcing the closing of its investigation into the possible acquisition of the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times\u00a0by tronc Inc., the owner of the\u00a0Chicago Tribune:<\/em><\/p>\n

On May 15, 2017, the Antitrust Division announced that it was investigating the possible acquisition of the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times\u00a0by tronc because the merger of the two daily newspapers in Chicago would raise significant antitrust concerns.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Division\u2019s investigation focused on whether the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times\u00a0was a failing company under the Department of Justice\/Federal Trade Commission Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which provide that a transaction is not likely to be anticompetitive if the assets of one of the firms would otherwise exit the market.\u00a0 One of the conditions required to be met in order to establish the \u201cfailing firm\u201d defense is that the failing firm \u201chas made unsuccessful good-faith efforts to elicit reasonable alternative offers that would keep its tangible and intangible assets in the relevant market and pose a less severe danger to competition than does the proposed merger.\u201d\u00a0 Horizontal Merger Guidelines at \u00a7 11.\u00a0 Because this condition may not be satisfied by a\u00a0confidential\u00a0sale effort, a seller may choose to undertake a\u00a0public\u00a0sale process to augment its effort to elicit reasonable alternative offers.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this case, Wrapports LLC, the owner of the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times, launched a public sale process on\u00a0May 16,\u00a02017, which the Division monitored closely.\u00a0 This process resulted in Wrapports selling the\u00a0Chicago Sun-Times\u00a0to an alternative buyer, ST Acquisition Holdings LLC, which does not currently own an interest in any other newspaper.\u00a0As a result, the Division will be closing its investigation of the possible acquisition of theChicago Sun-Times\u00a0by tronc.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Division notes that some transactions that rely on a failing firm defense may not be reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.\u00a0 The Division encourages firms whose non-reportable transaction relies on a failing firm defense to: (i) inform the Division about the proposed transaction prior to consummation; (ii) allow for sufficient time for the Division to conduct a thorough investigation, which may decrease the possibility of a precipitous enforcement action; and (iii) plan in advance for the costs of undergoing such an investigation.\u00a0 At the same time, when voluntarily notified of such a transaction, the Division endeavors to conduct its investigation expeditiously under the circumstances.\u00a0 Here, Wrapports helpfully notified the Division of the Letter of Intent that it had entered into with tronc, which enabled the Division to open its investigation and monitor the public sale process.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Antitrust Division is the agency responsible for investigating mergers involving newspapers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tronc is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Chicago.\u00a0 It publishes major daily newspapers across California, Illinois, Florida, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia and Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Wrapports is a privately-held Delaware limited liability company based in Chicago.\u00a0 ST Acquisition Holdings is a privately-held Delaware limited liability company based in Chicago.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the end, one man made all the difference. Edwin Eisendrath, the former Chicago alderman who ran losing campaigns for governor and congressman earlier in his career, just won the most unlikely challenge he\u2019d ever undertaken: He kept the Chicago Sun-Times independent and out of the clutches of Chicago Tribune owner tronc. \u201cIt was bashert,\u201d... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14874"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14922,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14874\/revisions\/14922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}