Digital First Media said Thursday that the company — the operator of The Denver Post and 13 other newspapers in Colorado — has determined that a “sale of the company as previously speculated is not in the best interest of shareholders at this time.”
DFM in September hired investment adviser UBS Securities to review alternatives, including selling the entire company, selling regional clusters or doing nothing.
“We continue to have discussions concerning selected assets and we are looking at potential acquisition opportunities. Our performance is driving our digital future and increased profitability, and our essentially debt-free structure has given us a lot of options, which we will continue to explore,” DFM CEO John Paton and chief operating officer Steve Rossi said in a joint statement sent to employees.
The memo also said Paton will leave DFM on June 30, the end of the fiscal year, at which time Rossi will assume leadership of the company. Rossi will remain president and chief operating officer, reporting to the executive chairman of the board.
Digital First Media was formed in December 2013 with the merger of Denver-based MediaNews Group and the former Journal Register Co. It is the nation’s second-largest newspaper company, based on circulation, operating in 15 states, with 800 multi-platform news and information products, including 76 daily and Sunday newspapers and 160 weeklies. The company said it serves 75 million customers monthly.
Its largest properties include The Denver Post, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Daily News, The New Haven Register, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and The Salt Lake Tribune.
In Colorado, the company also owns the Boulder Daily Camera, Longmont Times-Call, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Cañon City Daily Record, Estes Park Trail-Gazette, and seven smaller papers on the Eastern Plains.
