• by Ray Schultz , April 5, 2021

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital has been outbid in its effort to acquire Tribune Publishing — at least for now. 

Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss have submitted a fully financed offer of $680 million, exceeding the $635 million offered by Alden. And the Tribune board is likely to approve the offer, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

That development would have newsrooms breathing a collective sigh of relief, given Alden’s reputation for ruthless cost-cutting. 

Bainum and Wyss, who each pledged $100 million, have raised that to a combined $600 million, the WSJ reports. Their offer is $18.50 per share, versus Alden’s $17.25 per share. 

The special committee of Tribune Publishing’s board has determined the Bainum-Wyss offer is “reasonably likely” to top Alden’s, and the group is being given access to private financial data to conduct due diligence. 

Alden would have to come back with a higher bid, the WSJ notes. 

Wyss is the former CEO of medical device maker Synthes. Bainum is the chairman of Choice Hotels International.  

Wyss, 85, told The New York Times he wants to own the flagship paper, and that Bainum seeks to control the Baltimore Sun.  

Nonprofit benefactors would be found for the other dailies, including The Hartford Courant, the Orlando Sentinel the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.

“I don’t want to see another newspaper that has a chance to increase the amount of truth being told to the American people going down the drain,” Wyss said, according to the Times. 

Alden already controls 32% of the stock. But that voting block could be largely countered by the 24% owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and his wife Michele, who own the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune. Wyss also owns a small minority percentage.