Although the New York Times says it’s in no hurry to sell the Boston Globe, pundits are already trying to handicap who will win the bidding for the money-losing paper.
Before investors have even had a chance to kick the tires, reports are suggesting that Stephen Taylor, a former Globe executive and a member of the family that sold the paper to the Times in 1993, may be the frontrunner.
Taylor is leading one of two investor groups that have been invited to a series of meetings at the Globe in the next few weeks. The other bidder is Platinum Equity, a private-equity firm that bought the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Last month, the Globe reported that Platinum submitted a bid for $35 million, plus the assumption of $59 million in pension liabilities, for the Globe and its sister paper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Taylor’s proposal is said to be similar.
If both bids are in the same ballpark, then Taylor may be the favored bidder because of his past experience with the paper and his Boston roots, according to the Boston Herald, which cited analysts to bolster its case.
The paper cautioned that Taylor may not necessarily be the best candidate to buy the Globe, however. After all, local ownership did little to help hometown papers in Chicago and Philadelphia escape bankruptcy.
The report may be playing off an interview that Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. gave to the Globe last month. Sulzberger said he would be patient when it came to selling the paper and would consider more than just price. He added that the Times could end up forgoing a sale altogether after cost cutting put the Globe on better financial footing.