The founder and CEO of Gannett business partner
MediaNews Group,
William Dean Singleton, plans to relinquish day-to-day leadership of the Denver-based company after a replacement for him and the outgoing president is found,
Denver Business Journal says. The management shakeup came yesterday after international hedge fund Alden Global Capital bought a significant stake in the company, the
Journal says.
 |
| Singleton |
The Wall Street Journal reported late yesterday that MediaNews is "eyeing a merger with Freedom Communications and possibly several other newspaper companies." It cited an unnamed "person familiar with the matter," notes
Denver Business Journal.
MediaNews Group is the minority partner in the GCI-controlled
Detroit Media Partnership joint operating agency that publishes GCI's
Detroit Free Press and MediaNews'
Detroit News. The two companies also are partners in companies publishing newspapers in Northern California, Texas and Pennsylvania.
Maybe they will hire Craig from Gannett!
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope!
Singleton was finished as soon as he declared bankruptcy. You can't believe a word the man says. His company is basically worthless. Can't fault him for just wanting to bail out and retire.
ReplyDeleteFor those looking for other jobs: watch these developments closely. A collapse of Singleton's empire, which I think now is clearly possible, will unleash a torrent of newspaper talent on the market. Singleton obviously is trying to keep the Denver Post, but I don't see any future for most of his other operations. Bottom line: if you have a line on another job, you might consider taking it, or realize the market is going to be very crowded.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Gannett will join into this mass-newspaper merger?
ReplyDeleteHere's a good one from Lean Dean.
ReplyDeleteWhen he bought all the Bay Area newspapers from Wonder Boy Gary Pruitt of McClatchy (after the demise of Knight Ridder), Lean Dean told the San Jose Mercury News employees that the Mercury was the "Crown Jewel" of Media News.
Lean Dean scooted up Interstate 680 to Contra Costa Times later that afternoon and told the employees the Times was the "Crown Jewel" of Media News.
This guy is a piece of work.
There is always a lot of talk about Dubow and his cronies. Why can't Gannett get a strong CEO like Singleton.
ReplyDeleteYou can't trust Dean but you should always pay attention to him and what he is saying. Check out the Westworld interview with him today. He has an uncanny ability to survive and react.
ReplyDeleteYes, and note the demise of MediaNews was attributed in one of those stories to "a failure to satisfactorily transition the business from print to multi-platform." Another company that has failed miserably on that front comes to my mind.
ReplyDeleteHe's also the same guy who said no way we're declaring bankruptcy, and then two weeks later did just that. I love how Lodovic bailed out at the perfect time with a nice parting package after running the company into the ground. He'll probably get a consultant job with Tribune, Gannett or Hearst based on his "years of great service to the industry."
ReplyDeleteNice deer in the headlights look. I shed no tears for Dean after how he screwed up the NJ newspapers he bought.
ReplyDelete