Boston Globe owner John Henry announced yesterday he'll sell the Worcester Telegram & Gazette — not to a local owner as he had originally hoped, but to Florida-based Halifax Media Group, which one analyst predicted will soon take a butcher's knife to the newsroom.
"I'd expect layoffs," said Ken Doctor of Newsonomics. "In general, they take a pretty lean approach to management and staffing. ... For readers, they shouldn't expect much of an investment in the news product."
Henry acquired the T&G when he bought The Boston Globe from the New York Times Co. last year. At the time, he told T&G staffers "it's important" for the paper to be under local ownership and he was looking for someone with "tremendous energy and a passion" for the paper, according to a Telegram article.
But Doctor told the Herald that Halifax is a lot more concerned about the bottom line, compared to Henry, who has alluded to turning the Globe into a "laboratory for journalism."
"What they are is a company that looks at this as financial people who say, 'We can make money in the next three to five years if we run them this way'," said Doctor. "Their understanding of the business is as business people ... That's a different take on it than John Henry."
Halifax owns 35 newspapers, with the Telegram being its first venture in the Northeast. It first bought The Daytona Beach News-Journal four years ago and scooped up the New York Times' Regional Media Group a year later.
For a young company, it's been buying and selling quickly. Halifax sold the Santa Rosa Press Democrat of California within a year, and the Sebring News-Sun of Florida within seven months.
The company is backed by Stephens Capital Partners, run by Arkansas billionaire Warren Stephens.
The T&G reported yesterday its interim publisher, James W. Hopson, told staffers three groups — none local — submitted bids. He also said some staffers will lose their jobs by June, the T&G reported.
"The T&G is an excellent local newspaper with a dedicated and talented staff," said Halifax CEO Michael Redding in a statement.
"They understand the Worcester market and bring the passion and commitment needed to preserve the T&G's traditions and build for the future," Globe CEO Mike Sheehan said in a statement.
The companies did not disclose a sales price, and Redding and Sheehan did not return messages seeking comment.
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