Boston Herald Highest Bidder Was Digital First With $12 Million

BOSTON, MA — In the end it looks like GateHouse Media was out bid in its effort to purchase the bankrupt Boston Herald. Colorado-based Digital First Media was the lucky winner, taking the Boston Herald in a 5-hour bankruptcy auction with a top bid of $11.9 million, the Herald reported Tuesday.

The company, also known as Media News Group (based in Denver) owns hundreds of publications across the country, including the Denver Post. Digital First also owns the Lowell Sun and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise in Massachusetts.

In December, just after the Herald announced it had filed for bankruptcy, GateHouse Media announced it was planning to buy the Boston Herald for about $5 million.

But law required the bankrupt business got up on the auction block. Following that announcement Revolution Media Group filed a second bid for the Herald in January about $5.75 milion, and last week Digital First added its own bid.

The bid still has to get court approval. A hearing is scheduled Friday in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware.

But all may not be in the clear for Herald staffers: Philadelphia Business Journal reported that since the company was taken over four years ago by New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital, the number of employees at the four local unionized Digital First publications have been sliced in half in layoffs.

The Business Journal reported Digital First is called that for a reason and is known for cost cutting measures: The daily Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise in Massachusetts is planning to shed its physical office and switch to a “virtual newsroom” model (similar to Patch) by the end of the month.

See the Full Herald Story here: Sold! Boston Herald Has A High Bidder

Previously on Patch

Boston Herald Sells To GateHouse Media For $4.5 Million

Boston Herald Has New High Bidder

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