Private equity firms, the deep-pocketed investors who bought up newspapers like the Minneapolis Star Tribune (left), can't do deals as easily these days. The credit squeeze brought on by the subprime crisis makes it harder for them to get loans to finance acquisitions of any kind.Fresh evidence of the impact on media: "Weak credit markets have scuttled another deal, at least temporarily," The Wall Street Journal says today. "Family-controlled Freedom Communications Inc., which owns the Orange County Register newspaper, has postponed a plan to buy out two minority partners, Blackstone Group LP and Providence Equity Partners."
All this further reduces options for Gannett's board of directors as it continues reviewing the company's portfolio. With credit tight, there aren't many buyers -- and the few out there are looking for bargains. That's exactly the sort of market you don't want if the board panics next year, and starts throwing newspapers overboard.
[Image: today's Star-Tribune, Newseum. Hat tip, Romenesko]
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