History
Sun-Times Media Group was originally 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 Chicago Sun-Times, holding an 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 and The Jerusalem Post were added to the company in 1996, and its Canadian papers in 1997. It created the National Post from the Financial Post 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, and Forum Communications). Its Canadian holdings, notably the National Post, several smaller papers, and a majority stake in the Southam newspaper chain, were sold to CanWest in 2000 in connection with Conrad Black 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. He attempted to sell his stake to the Barclay brothers in January 2004 and the brothers launched a takeover 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 Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, and The Spectator. On November 16, 2004, the sale of The 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 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 of the United States Code.
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 to deep compensation cuts and work-rule changes. The purchase was completed the next month.
James C. Tyree died under sudden circumstances 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" to access its online content beginning on December 8, 2011.
On Monday, December 26, 2011, Chicago investment group Wrapports, L.L.C., led by Chairman Michael W. Ferro Jr. & CEO Timothy Knight, completed its purchase of the company.
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