NewsGuild Urges Hedge Fund to ‘Sell the Denver Post Now!’

DENVER, Colo.—The Denver Newspaper Guild issued an open letter urging Alden Global Capital to “Sell The Denver Post Now!” March 15, the day after the company announced it would lay off another 30 newsroom staffers. Those layoffs, the union said, would leave the Post with 49 working journalists, down from about 200 when the hedge fund took over the paper in 2011. “Alden Global’s layoffs are driven by greed—its desperate attempt to strip value from its newspapers and recoup more than $100 million in losses from its non-newspaper investments,” the Guild said in the letter. “If Alden continues its current course, it will destroy newspapers in Denver and many other cities across the country.” Alden’s Digital First Media chain has been eyeing selling the Post for more than two years, as circulation for the print version has fallen by more than half since 2012. Noting that in Minneapolis, a local businessman has “stabilized” the similar-size Star Tribune since he bought it from absentee owners in 2014, the Guild implored Alden “to sell its free-falling properties to local owners while there remains a chance to invest in quality journalism.” Read more