#CEO of Tribune Publishing fired in wake of Alden takeover

The chief executive of Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, has been fired in the wake of the takeover by cost-slashing hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

Terry Jimenez, with 20 years experience in publishing, was moved up to CEO from CFO in February 2020. He was alone among the seven board members — which included three from Alden — who had opposed Alden’s $17.25-a- share takeover valuing the company at just over $630 million from the start.

Jimenez could not be reached for comment. Staffers at the Daily News learned of Jimenez’s departure in the final line of a staff email. “CEO Terry Jimenez is on longer with Tribune and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

The anxious editorial staffers at the paper were also rankled by the news that they are now “owned by NY Daily News Enterprises LLC.” 

Asked at a Zoom meeting Tuesday, if all papers in Tribune were being spun into separate new entities, Daily News editor-in-chief Robert York simply responded, “I don’t know,” according to a source. 

Jimenez’s fate may have been sealed when back in March when Tribune’s proxy disclosed that he opposed the deal, which the special committee of non-Alden shareholders was recommending.

“Mr. Jimenez dissent[ed] on the basis of his belief that the price proposed by Alden was inadequate due to his greater optimism about the Company’s future financial performance, and therefore, when comparing Alden’s offer, he considered remaining as a standalone company to be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders,” according to the proxy.

He is expected to be only the first of many departures in the wake of the takeover. The New York-based hedge fund headed by president Heath Freeman, which had 32 percent of Tribune stock before its takeover, already owns titles including the Denver Post, the Boston Herald, the Orange County Register and the San Jose Mercury News.

All those papers have absorbed deep cuts under Alden ownership. The Tribune deal makes Alden the second-largest newspaper publisher in the US behind USA Today parent Gannett.

In the first quarter of the year, Tribune Publishing reported earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization to be $25 million. At a multiple of four times earnings, that would give the company a value for the sake of a deal of $400 million, plus the debt-free company had $250 million in cash on hand, which would give it an enterprise value of $650 million, not too far off the Alden deal.

But traditionally, unsolicited takeovers such as the one Alden embarked on would require the acquiring company to pay a premium over the conventional multiple — or at least that was what the NewsGuild put forth as one of its arguments against the takeover.

In the end, only 18 percent of the non-Alden shareholders opposed the deal. Shares of Tribune Publishing, which Alden is taking private, traded on Nasdaq for the final time on Monday.