Journalists at the Omaha World-Herald blasted billionaire and soon-to-be former owner Warren Buffett for selling the newspaper to a national chain after reportedly being open to selling locally if the right buyer was found.
“We are blindsided, dismayed and disappointed,” Omaha World-Herald Guild President Todd Cooper said in a statement after news of the sale spread.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Media Group sold the OWH along with 29 other daily newspapers to Lee Enterprises on Wednesday for $140 million. Buffett and Berkshire initially spent around $345 million on media acquisitions between 2011 and 2013, according to CBC News.
Cooper said that Buffett had agreed to let the OWH union find a local buyer under some conditions.
“(Buffett) had two requirements: He wanted to approve who we were approaching and he wanted us to be discreet,” Cooper said in his statement that a copy of was posted Thursday on Twitter. “In turn, all of our approaches to would-be buyers were approved by Mr. Buffett and Mr. Ted Weschler, his right-hand man for newspapers.”
Updated statement below. “What an unmitigated mess. It just doesn’t have to be this way. And Mr. Buffett knows it.” pic.twitter.com/Hj7KhUQaJl
— The OWH Guild (@owhguild) January 29, 2020
Apparently Buffett and Weschler had approved “an impending approach,” only to turn around and announce the sale to Lee.
And Cooper had some harsh words in describing the Iowa-based company “that has all the nonsense national chains are known for.
“Bloated bonuses for executives, rewarding them for ending journalists’ careers; massive cuts to product, including this newspaper; and, as an added bonus, cutthroat investors, such as vulture hedge fund Alden Global Capital,” Cooper said in the statement.
Buffett could potentially make bank on the deal, too, which includes a $576 million loan from Berkshire with a 9% annual rate over 25 years. Those funds will be used by Lee to fund the acquisition and get rid of its current credit facility, making Berkshire the only lender and refinance debts.
If Lee pays the full 9% interest every year, Buffett could net $1.3 billion, according to Business Insider. The newspaper conglomerate is also signing a 10-year lease for the building from BH Media Group.
“We had zero interest in selling the group to anyone else for one simple reason: We believe that Lee is best positioned to manage through the industry’s challenges,” Buffett said in a press release announcing the deal Wednesday.
And Lee CEO Kevin Mowbray said on a call announcing the sale that his conglomerate has “deep respect” for the operators running the OWH currently, and he thinks both parties are “aligned in our mission to deliver high-quality local news, information and advertising.”
It doesn’t quite sound like everyone is on board if you look at OWH Guild Twitter account, though, according to a Wednesday tweet following the deal blasting Buffett when “he chose the path of national-chain nonsense—Gannett/Gatehouse, Alden/DFM and, yes, Lee. Make no mistake, Lee is short for lousy.”
.@WarrenBuffett had so many other paths — see Paul Huntsman in Salt Lake, Glen Taylor in Minneapolis, the Sonoma County group in NoCal. Instead, he chose the path of national-chain nonsense—Gannett/Gatehouse, Alden/DFM and, yes, Lee. Make no mistake, Lee is short for lousy. pic.twitter.com/QOrj9Nq7vk
— The OWH Guild (@owhguild) January 29, 2020