Sun-Times Media Group (formerly Hollinger International) was a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based newspaper holding company. The company formerly owned the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' until its acquisition by ownership group ST Acquisition Holdings in 2017.

History

Sun-Times Media Group was founded in 1986 under the name ''American Publishing Company'', as a holding company for Hollinger Inc.'s American properties. It focused on newspapers, mostly in smaller markets. In February 1994, it acquired the ''

'', holding an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) to fund the acquisition. At the time, it was the fifteenth-largest U.S. newspaper group. It changed its name to ''Hollinger International'' in 1994. Hollinger's non-American properties, which included ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'', were added to the company in 1996, and its Canadian papers in 1997. It created the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'' from the ''

Financial Post The ''Financial Post'' is a financial news website, and business section of the ''National Post'', both publications of the Postmedia Network. It started as an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the ...

'' in 1998. That year, it began a process of shrinking the company, selling many of its small papers to the private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, who formed Liberty Group Publishing. In 2000, it sold most of the rest to four media companies ( Bradford Publications Company, Community Newspaper Holdings,

Paxton Media Group Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky, is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers and a TV station, WPSD-TV in Paducah. David M. Paxton is president and CEO. The company owns 32 daily newspapers and numerous wee ...

, and Forum Communications). Its Canadian holdings, notably the ''

'', several smaller papers, and a majority stake in the Southam newspaper chain, were sold to

CanWest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

in 2000 in connection with

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster. Black's father was businessma ...

renouncing his Canadian citizenship to gain a British peerage. That year, Hollinger International bought the Chicago-area publications of Copley Press ('' The Herald News'', '' The Beacon-News'', ''The Courier-News'', and '' Lake County News-Sun'', along with several smaller papers). Conrad Black was fired by the Hollinger International board in 2004 for fraud. He attempted to sell his stake to the

Barclay brothers Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay ...

in January 2004 and the brothers launched a

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

bid for the rest of Hollinger International. However the sale was blocked by a judge in the United States after the company's board lodged a court action against the sale. The Barclay brothers later bought The Telegraph Group which included ''

'', ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

'', and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

''. On November 16, 2004, the sale of ''

'' to Mirkaei Tikshoret, a Tel Aviv–based publisher of Israeli newspapers, was announced. CanWest Global Communications, Canada's biggest media concern, announced it has agreed to take a 50 percent stake in ''The Jerusalem Post'' after Mirkaei buys the property. In February 2006, Hollinger sold substantially all of its Canadian assets. The corporation's name was changed to Sun-Times Media Group on July 17, 2006. On March 31, 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy protection under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

of the

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

. In September 2009, Chicago financier James C. Tyree and a team of investors had a $5 million bid accepted to purchase the Sun-Times Media Group, contingent on the paper's unions accepting deep compensation cuts and work-rule changes. The purchase was completed the next month. Tyree died suddenly in March 2011. Jeremy Halbreich, chief executive, said that Tyree will be greatly missed and that his death will make no changes in the media company's strategy. Since the Tyree-Halbreich takeover, the organization has shown accelerating declines in circulation, advertising revenue and quality of editorial content. Industry analysts have repeatedly pointed to the group's failure to craft a competitive online product as evidence of continued decline. On December 6, 2011, the company announced it will institute a

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...

to access its online content from December 8, 2011. Later in December 2011, Chicago investment group

Wrapports Wrapports LLC was the American-based privately owned publisher of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and the ''Chicago Reader''. It was headquartered in the ''Sun-Times'' building in Chicago. History The company was launched in late 2011 by Michael W. Fe ...

, L.L.C., led by Chairman Michael W. Ferro Jr. & CEO Timothy Knight, bought the properties of Sun-Times Media Holdings. On July 13, 2017, it was reported that a consortium consisting of private investors and the Chicago Federation of Labor led by businessman and former Chicago alderman Edwin Eisendrath through his company ST Acquisition Holdings, had acquired the Sun-Times Media Group from then-owner

, beating out Chicago-based publishing company Tronc (formerly Tribune Publishing Company) for ownership. In March 2019, a new ownership group took over and took control of the Sun-Times from the previous union ownership. The group, Sun-Times Investment Holdings LLC, was backed by prominent Chicago investors Michael Sacks and Rocky Wirtz.

Corporate governance

;November 17, 2003 *

resigns as chairman after an internal inquiry alleges that Black had received more than $7 million in unauthorized payments of company funds. ;January 14, 2004 * Hollinger International files a million lawsuit against Conrad Black and David Radler. ;October 2005 *Gordon A. Paris, chairman of the board of directors, president, chief executive officer and director *Paul B. Healy, vice president, corporate development and investor relations *Peter K. Lane, vice president, chief financial officer * Robert T. Smith, treasurer *James R. Van Horn, vice president, general counsel and secretary *John Cruickshank, chief operating officer, head of the Chicago group * Members of the board of directors: Gordon Paris, Richard Burt, Daniel Colson, Cyrus Freidheim,

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

, Shmuel Meitar, John O'Brien, Richard Perle, Graham Savage, Raymond G. H. Seitz, and James R. Thompson. ;November 2006 * Cyrus Freidheim is hired as president and CEO. ;February 2009 * Cyrus Freidheim resigns as CEO after New York–based hedge fund Davidson Kempner forces the ousting of all but one member of the board of directors. * Jeremy Halbreich becomes the new chairman and interim chief executive. ;March 2009 * Sun-Times Media Group filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. ;December 2011 * Wrapports, L.L.C. acquired the Sun-Times Media Group. ;July 2017 * ST Acquisition Holdings, a consortium of private investors and Chicago Federation of Labor acquired the Sun-Times Media Group from Wrapports. ;March 2019 * Sun-Times Investment Holdings, LLC. acquired the assets of Sun-Times Media Group from previous consortium.

References

External links

Sun-Times Media Group
– official website
Pioneer Press
local newspapers' site (part of ''Chicago Tribune'')

Extensive background information, including past and present media holdings.

Complete 512-page copy of the Report of Investigation by the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Hollinger International Inc.

{{2008 economic crisis Newspaper companies in Chicago Publishing companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in Illinois Chicago Sun-Times Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009

History

Corporate governance

See also

References

External links