Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

U-T San Diego now belongs to L.A.

Political coverage to change under new ownership, CEO suggests

"Papa" Douglas Manchester's rowdy reign as the big-money Republican owner of the U-T San Diego has come to the end with the closing of his $83 million deal to sell the newspaper and its smaller satellites to Tribune Publishing of Chicago.

Douglas Manchester

Tribune made the announcement in a May 21 disclosure statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Citibank "provided a $70,000,000 increase to the term loan under the Company’s existing senior term loan facility" to finance the purchase of Manchester's MLIM holding company.

"The total purchase price for the Acquisition consisted of $71 million in cash after application of the estimated working capital adjustment, and $12 million in common stock of the Company, or 700,869 shares," according to the disclosure.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"In addition, MLIM, which will become a subsidiary of the Company, will also retain certain liabilities, including its existing pension obligations."

On Monday, May 18, Tribune Publishing’s chief executive officer Jack Griffin told a media and telecom conference put on by J.P. Morgan Global Technology that the company, which also owns the Los Angeles Times, would move swiftly to consolidate its hold on the San Diego paper.

"The L.A. Times is just about 100 miles up the road on the 5 or the 405. You can get a truck full of newspapers at three o'clock in the morning down to San Diego in a little over an hour," said Griffin, adding, "It doesn't snow there, which is a big help."

He continued, "And so, within three months after the acquisition closes we will exit the printing facility in San Diego, and the printing of that newspaper and all its derivative products will be done out of our Olympic plant in Los Angeles, which is one of the biggest printing plants in North America with capacity."

Another "big piece of the cost synergy," said Griffin, "is the distribution, so there's plenty of L.A. Times newspapers that already get distributed in San Diego County so we have efficiencies that we create there."

Political coverage is also likely to change, based on what Griffin had to say.

Austin Beutner

"A paper like San Diego on its own doesn't have access to a Washington bureau like we have for political coverage, so there's a lot we can do with the product and we love markets like San Diego that have macro economic tailwinds and great franchises."

The abrupt shift from Manchester's Koch brothers–tied Republican ownership to U-T’s new publisher Austin Beutner, a former associate of Democrats Bill Clinton and ex–L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — as well as a major donor to president Barack Obama — has some local members of the GOP concerned the city could lose more than just printing jobs.

Others fear that under new ownership the paper could become a stealth player in efforts to move the Chargers to L.A.

Russ Newton

The first management change by the new ownership was announced by Beutner in a statement posted on the U-T website.

"Russ Newton, The Times’ Senior Vice President for Operations, will join the team in San Diego as President and Chief Operating Officer of The San Diego Union-Tribune. He will help lead the Union-Tribune team, working with Editor Jeff Light, Managing Editor Lora Cicalo and Bill Osborne, Editorial and Opinion Director."

Beutner, who signed the statement "Austin," confirmed the newspaper’s name has reverted to San Diego Union-Tribune from Manchester's favored U-T San Diego.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?

"Papa" Douglas Manchester's rowdy reign as the big-money Republican owner of the U-T San Diego has come to the end with the closing of his $83 million deal to sell the newspaper and its smaller satellites to Tribune Publishing of Chicago.

Douglas Manchester

Tribune made the announcement in a May 21 disclosure statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Citibank "provided a $70,000,000 increase to the term loan under the Company’s existing senior term loan facility" to finance the purchase of Manchester's MLIM holding company.

"The total purchase price for the Acquisition consisted of $71 million in cash after application of the estimated working capital adjustment, and $12 million in common stock of the Company, or 700,869 shares," according to the disclosure.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"In addition, MLIM, which will become a subsidiary of the Company, will also retain certain liabilities, including its existing pension obligations."

On Monday, May 18, Tribune Publishing’s chief executive officer Jack Griffin told a media and telecom conference put on by J.P. Morgan Global Technology that the company, which also owns the Los Angeles Times, would move swiftly to consolidate its hold on the San Diego paper.

"The L.A. Times is just about 100 miles up the road on the 5 or the 405. You can get a truck full of newspapers at three o'clock in the morning down to San Diego in a little over an hour," said Griffin, adding, "It doesn't snow there, which is a big help."

He continued, "And so, within three months after the acquisition closes we will exit the printing facility in San Diego, and the printing of that newspaper and all its derivative products will be done out of our Olympic plant in Los Angeles, which is one of the biggest printing plants in North America with capacity."

Another "big piece of the cost synergy," said Griffin, "is the distribution, so there's plenty of L.A. Times newspapers that already get distributed in San Diego County so we have efficiencies that we create there."

Political coverage is also likely to change, based on what Griffin had to say.

Austin Beutner

"A paper like San Diego on its own doesn't have access to a Washington bureau like we have for political coverage, so there's a lot we can do with the product and we love markets like San Diego that have macro economic tailwinds and great franchises."

The abrupt shift from Manchester's Koch brothers–tied Republican ownership to U-T’s new publisher Austin Beutner, a former associate of Democrats Bill Clinton and ex–L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — as well as a major donor to president Barack Obama — has some local members of the GOP concerned the city could lose more than just printing jobs.

Others fear that under new ownership the paper could become a stealth player in efforts to move the Chargers to L.A.

Russ Newton

The first management change by the new ownership was announced by Beutner in a statement posted on the U-T website.

"Russ Newton, The Times’ Senior Vice President for Operations, will join the team in San Diego as President and Chief Operating Officer of The San Diego Union-Tribune. He will help lead the Union-Tribune team, working with Editor Jeff Light, Managing Editor Lora Cicalo and Bill Osborne, Editorial and Opinion Director."

Beutner, who signed the statement "Austin," confirmed the newspaper’s name has reverted to San Diego Union-Tribune from Manchester's favored U-T San Diego.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

O’side Tree Lighting & Gift Market, Holiday Lights at the Museum, The Elovaters and Little Stranger

Events December 5-December 6, 2024
Next Article

San Diego Fix it Clinic, Gaslamp Holiday Pet Parade

Events December 14-December 18, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader