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

Tronc eludes John Lynch’s embrace

Ex-Union-Tribune chieftain misses deal’s gold ring

April 15 U-T with photo of Patrick Soon-Shiong.
April 15 U-T with photo of Patrick Soon-Shiong.

The newspaper dreams of Rancho Santa Fe's colorful John Lynch, one-time vice-chairman and CEO of the Union-Tribune under Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester, appear to have been shattered by the latest development in the tortured saga of tronc, the Chicago-based chain with a funny name which owns the U-T.

John Lynch. Lynch's arrangement called for the purchase of tronc shares at $23 each, a premium over the current market price of around $17.

Per a June 5 filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Lynch's previous deal to buy the 25.7 percent of tronc stock controlled by Mike Ferro (who quit as tronc's chairman in March ahead of news that two women had accused him of making inappropriate advances) has fallen apart.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The deal was "not consummated due to Buyer’s breach of its obligations," according to the filing. Lynch's arrangement with Ferro, supposedly backed by putative co-buyer Sargent M. McCormick-Collier — billed as a wealthy heir to onetime Chicago Tribune president Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick — called for the purchase of more than 9 million tronc shares at $23 each, a premium over the current market price of around $17.

A subsequent April 19 SEC filing regarding the deal, which said McCormick-Collier and associates were talking about future asset sales and "potential business combinations or dispositions," led to speculation that onetime border radio maven Lynch would finally ascend to a long-sought executive post in national media.

"There's a need to have a solid newspaper in Chicago that can capture, reclaim its notions of truth and trustworthiness," McCormick-Collier told Crane's Chicago Business in an April 18 profile.

The demise of Lynch's arrangement leaves one more shoe to drop, the long-stalled purchase by Los Angeles physician Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times and its sister Union-Tribune from tronc for almost $600 million in cash and pension obligations.

Soon-Shiong showed up April 16 in the U-T newsroom to reassure locals that his deal to take over the paper, announced back in early February, was still on track.

But the protracted delay has led some to speculate that the pharmaceutical billionaire is trying to get tronc to lower the price, or, alternatively, may be considering acquiring all of the troubled newspaper chain.

The wait for the paper's would-be rescuer has caused trepidation among the ranks of U-T staffers, worried about a falloff in circulation and advertising, and the absence of any sort of obvious comeback plan.

Tronc has blamed so-called technology transition issues for the holdup, causing some at both the U-T and L.A. Times to wonder whether their jobs may soon be eliminated by robotics.

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Houston ex-mayor donates to Toni Atkins governor fund

LGBT fights in common
April 15 U-T with photo of Patrick Soon-Shiong.
April 15 U-T with photo of Patrick Soon-Shiong.

The newspaper dreams of Rancho Santa Fe's colorful John Lynch, one-time vice-chairman and CEO of the Union-Tribune under Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester, appear to have been shattered by the latest development in the tortured saga of tronc, the Chicago-based chain with a funny name which owns the U-T.

John Lynch. Lynch's arrangement called for the purchase of tronc shares at $23 each, a premium over the current market price of around $17.

Per a June 5 filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Lynch's previous deal to buy the 25.7 percent of tronc stock controlled by Mike Ferro (who quit as tronc's chairman in March ahead of news that two women had accused him of making inappropriate advances) has fallen apart.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The deal was "not consummated due to Buyer’s breach of its obligations," according to the filing. Lynch's arrangement with Ferro, supposedly backed by putative co-buyer Sargent M. McCormick-Collier — billed as a wealthy heir to onetime Chicago Tribune president Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick — called for the purchase of more than 9 million tronc shares at $23 each, a premium over the current market price of around $17.

A subsequent April 19 SEC filing regarding the deal, which said McCormick-Collier and associates were talking about future asset sales and "potential business combinations or dispositions," led to speculation that onetime border radio maven Lynch would finally ascend to a long-sought executive post in national media.

"There's a need to have a solid newspaper in Chicago that can capture, reclaim its notions of truth and trustworthiness," McCormick-Collier told Crane's Chicago Business in an April 18 profile.

The demise of Lynch's arrangement leaves one more shoe to drop, the long-stalled purchase by Los Angeles physician Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times and its sister Union-Tribune from tronc for almost $600 million in cash and pension obligations.

Soon-Shiong showed up April 16 in the U-T newsroom to reassure locals that his deal to take over the paper, announced back in early February, was still on track.

But the protracted delay has led some to speculate that the pharmaceutical billionaire is trying to get tronc to lower the price, or, alternatively, may be considering acquiring all of the troubled newspaper chain.

The wait for the paper's would-be rescuer has caused trepidation among the ranks of U-T staffers, worried about a falloff in circulation and advertising, and the absence of any sort of obvious comeback plan.

Tronc has blamed so-called technology transition issues for the holdup, causing some at both the U-T and L.A. Times to wonder whether their jobs may soon be eliminated by robotics.

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

Victorian Christmas Tours, Jingle Bell Cruises

Events December 22-December 25, 2024
Next Article

San Diego beaches not that nice to dogs

Bacteria and seawater itself not that great
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