THE DEAL PIPELINE: When money management magazine and website Forbes Media LLC is sold, likely to Fosun International Ltd., the Chinese conglomerate that has taken the front-runner position in the company’s auction, sources said, it will be for a much lower price than private equity minority stakeholder Elevation Partners LP was hoping to receive.
Two sources said it is likely Fosun will acquire Forbes, and that it will pay less than $250 million for the magazine. The founding Forbes family is also expected to retain a stake in the business, a source familiar with the situation said. The deal has not been fully hashed out yet, but sources said an agreement should be reached shortly…
Lately, print media assets have had a rough go on the auction block. Beltway institution The Washington Post was sold to billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million, but left the paper’s parent company holding the bag on its pension obligations. And The New York Times Co. sold its Boston Globe, on which the paper spent $1.1 billion, mostly in stock, in 1993, in late 2013 to Rex Sox owner and billionaire John Henry, for a paltry $70 million.
Elsewhere, the Tribune Co., which went into bankruptcy proceedings at the end of 2008 to finally emerge in 2012, hastily announced plans to cut a dividend to the parent company after splitting off its print and broadcast assets. It’s a move similar to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which has spun news out from its entertainment company… (more)
