New York Times Company Sells Boston Globe, Losing $1 Billion

-- August 3, 2013: The Boston newspaper is being sold to John W. Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, for $70 million. The New York Times Company will take a huge loss on the sale, having bought the Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion from the Taylor family.

During the last ten years, John Henry has become a major investor in professional sports. His Fenway Sports Group owns the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network. The company also owns the soccer club Liverpool F.C. in the English Premier League.

The Boston Globe sale includes all of The New England Media Group, which consists of the Globe and its digital assets along with The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and the company's 49 percent interest in Metro Boston, a free daily newspaper. Henry will be the sole owner of the company, and under the terms of the sale, he will not assume The Globe's pension liabilities.

In the story New York Times Company Sells Boston Globe, published by The New York Times on August 3, 2013, Christine Haughney described how valuations of American newspapers have plummeted in the past seven years:

"The Globe is not the only paper to sell for a heavily discounted price. In April 2012, Philadelphia's newspapers sold for $55 million after selling for $515 million in 2006. In October, The Tampa Tribune sold for $9.5 million. During recent talks about the sale of the Tribune Company's portfolio of newspapers, analysts estimated that the entire newspaper company, including The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune, was worth only $623 million."

The ugly trends in newspaper sales and readership help explain the dramatic drop in the prices paid for these businesses. Weekday circulation at The Globe fell 38 percent from 2003 to 2013, declining from 402,423 to 245,572 copies per day. Going back to 1993, the figure was 506,996.

Go to the Boston Globe newspaper profile for more information about the newspaper.

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