Pascrell Opposes Predatory Media Takeover Attempt

Bid by vulture capitalist threatens local journalism across America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.-09) reacted to reports that MNG Enterprises Inc., an arm of the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, was seeking to purchase the Gannett Company through a hostile takeover of Gannett’s board of directors.

“The last thing we need is the decimation of more quality media outlets. Across America, newspapers have been shuttered or swallowed whole, slowly starving our communities of information about their towns and neighbors. This problem is especially acute in my state New Jersey. I have no doubt that our inability to obtain incisive journalism is a driving cause of our growing national divisions.

“Letting a predatory hedge fund take over one of America’s largest, most trusted news companies would take one more wrecking ball to our independent press. This firm and some other hedge funds have made a practice of looting storied businesses and firing tens of thousands of employees. In the same way an otter cracks open a clam before discarding the shell, Alden Capital is interested not in journalism, but in selling the land these newspapers are built on to maximize profits for Wall Street executives. Its bid should be rejected. A healthy democracy rests on a vibrant news media. I stand with the journalists and communities threatened by this and other similar takeover bids.”

Gannett Inc. is the parent company of a host of over 100 daily and 1000 weekly newspapers and community and state news outlets including USA Today, the Indianapolis Star, the Louisville Courier-Journal, and eight daily and many weekly papers in New Jersey, including The Record of Bergen County, the Asbury Park Press, the Bridgewater Courier News, and the Cherry Courier-Post, the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, and the Woodland Park Herald News.

Rep. Pascrell has been one of the leaders in Congress fighting predatory behavior by Wall Street firms against American businesses. In 2018, he led efforts to highlight the plights of Toys R Us workers fired after the storied retail chain was shuttered by private equity investors and their creditors.

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