Reality News
Is it just me or is reality bending to look more like reality TV all the time?
According to various reports Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that controls MNG Enterprises, is positioning itself for a hostile takeover after Gannett, The Commercial Appeal’s parent company, balked at its $1.8-billion acquisition proposal.
Shade has been traded between Gannett and Alden/MNG since the big G initially characterized the proposal as “not credible.”
“Buying Gannett is a tall task … I’m not sure Alden can get the financing to buy Gannett,” a media banker told The New York Post in a story suggesting MNG’s true ambition was to be acquired by Gannett.
“Indeed, given MNG’s refusal to provide even the most basic answers to Gannett’s questions, it appears that MNG does not have a realistic plan to acquire Gannett,” Gannett responded.
Shortly after the announcement, MNG took its beef live describing Gannett’s plan for the digital news business as “pie in the sky” and “not believable.”
These comments are in keeping with previous disses from Alden, which had released statements dogging “the team leading Gannett” for having, “not demonstrated that it’s capable of effectively running this enterprise.”
“The Death Star of Newspaper Chains,” as MNG had been called, still publicly insists that Gannett overpaid for digital assets and is currently “presiding over a declining core business” and cash flow. “Gannett’s deep structural problems are better fixed by experienced operators such as MNG,” MNG concluded.