Chatham Hedge Fund Has the Winning Bid for McClatchy Newspapers

Chatham Hedge Fund Has the Winning Bid for McClatchy Newspapers

The family-owned publisher of The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald announced the winner of its bankruptcy sale: Chatham Asset Management, the owner of The National Enquirer.

The expected deal to sell The Sacramento Bee, McClatchy's flagship publication, and other newspapers to a New Jersey hedge fund will end 163 years of family ownership.Credit...Salgu Wissmath for The New York Times

July 12, 2020Updated 12:20 p.m. ET

After years of declines in revenue and print circulation, the McClatchy Company, one of the largest news publishers in the country, announced on Sunday that it expected to become the property of Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey hedge fund, at the conclusion of a bankruptcy auction.

The deal, which will end 163 years of family ownership, underlines the growing influence of the financial industry on the American newspaper industry.

McClatchy, the publisher of The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer and its flagship publication, The Sacramento Bee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Chatham, an investor in the company since 2009, is its largest creditor. The firm put together the bid that has been declared the winner in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction supervised by Judge Michael E. Wiles, a McClatchy spokeswoman said