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Sun-Times Media Group (formerlyHollinger International) was aChicago-based newspaper holding company. The company formerly owned theChicago Sun-Times until its acquisition by ownership group ST Acquisition Holdings in 2017.
Sun-Times Media Group was founded in 1986 under the nameAmerican Publishing Company, as a holding company forHollinger Inc.'s American properties. It focused on newspapers, mostly in smaller markets. In February 1994, it acquired theChicago Sun-Times, holding aninitial public offering (IPO) to fund the acquisition. At the time, it was the fifteenth-largest U.S. newspaper group. It changed its name toHollinger International in 1994.
Hollinger's non-American properties, which includedThe Daily Telegraph andThe Jerusalem Post, were added to the company in 1996, and its Canadian papers in 1997. It created theNational Post from theFinancial Post in 1998.
That year, it began a process of shrinking the company, selling many of its small papers to the private equity firmLeonard Green & Partners, who formedLiberty Group Publishing. In 2000, it sold most of the rest to four media companies (Bradford Publications Company,Community Newspaper Holdings,Paxton Media Group, andForum Communications).[1] Its Canadian holdings, notably theNational Post,several smaller papers, and a majority stake in theSoutham newspaper chain, were sold toCanWest in 2000 in connection withConrad Black renouncing his Canadian citizenship to gain a British peerage. That year, Hollinger International bought the Chicago-area publications ofCopley Press (The Herald News,The Beacon-News,The Courier-News, andLake County News-Sun, along with several smaller papers).
Conrad Black was fired by the Hollinger International board in 2004 for fraud.[2] He attempted to sell his stake to theBarclay brothers in January 2004 and the brothers launched atakeover 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 TheTelegraph Group which includedThe Daily Telegraph,The Sunday Telegraph, andThe Spectator. On November 16, 2004, the sale ofThe Jerusalem Post 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 inThe Jerusalem Post after Mirkaei buys the property. In February 2006, Hollinger sold substantially all of its Canadian assets.[3]
The corporation's name was changed to Sun-Times Media Group on July 17, 2006.[4]
On March 31, 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy protection underChapter 11 of theUnited States Code.
In September 2009, Chicago financierJames 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.[5]
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 apaywall to access its online content from December 8, 2011.
Later in December 2011, Chicago investment groupWrapports,L.L.C., led by ChairmanMichael W. Ferro Jr. & CEO Timothy Knight, bought the properties of Sun-Times Media Holdings.[6]
On July 13, 2017, it was reported that a consortium consisting of private investors and theChicago Federation of Labor led by businessman and former Chicago aldermanEdwin Eisendrath through his company ST Acquisition Holdings, had acquired the Sun-Times Media Group from then-ownerWrapports, beating out Chicago-based publishing companyTronc (formerly Tribune Publishing Company) for ownership.[7][8]
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 andRocky Wirtz.[9]