MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business asDigital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado, United States–based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. As of 2026, it owns about 230 newspapers, and reports a monthly print and digital readership of around 47 million combined.[3][4][5]
History
The MediaNews Group logo, which still appears on print newspapers.
Based in Denver, Colorado, Scudder and Singleton purchased their first newspaper in 1983. They incorporated MediaNews Group in 1985, with Singleton as CEO and Scudder as chairman.[8] The company began to purchase small local newspapers that were financially troubled. The company made its first major acquisition in 1987: The Denver Post. Ultimately, it became one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States: in 2012, it operated 57 daily newspapers in 12 states, with combined a daily circulation of about 2.3 million.[9]
Singleton was a pioneer in "clustering": cutting jobs at individual newspapers and consolidating functions at a hub near a cluster of newspapers. For example, the Alameda Newspaper Group in suburban San Francisco in the mid-1990s had a central newsroom in Pleasanton, California, that did all the copy editing, layout and page makeup for five daily papers.[10] Upon acquiring the diverse group of papers, Singleton consolidated several news sections (such as sports and features) to one local office away from the metropolitan area, having a few reporters do the job of many people.
Singleton soon earned the nickname "Lean Dean" for his slashing of jobs through clustering. His tight-fisted methods were later adopted as the preferred model by Alden Global Capital and other hedge funds that took over near-bankrupt newspaper companies.
In August 2006, Singleton took out around $350 million in loans to purchase four newspapers from McClatchy Company. Among those providing the loan was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[11] It came out of bankruptcy in March 2010 under the majority ownership of its lenders.[12] The MediaNews creditors then removed MediaNews president Jody Lodovic and its chairman, William Dean Singleton, was reassigned to the position of "executive chairman of the board". The Singleton-Lodovic appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund firm which has acquired a large, though not controlling, stake. Several interim executive positions were also filled by people related to Alden or its parent, Smith Management LLC.[13] MediaNews became managed by Journal Register's Digital First Media.[14]
In 2017, the company was ranked third-largest among the newspaper groups in the country.[15] Alden Global Capital has been accused of "strip mining" its newspaper holdings.[16][17][18] In October 2017, the company's CEO, Steve Rossi, stepped down from his position.[15] In February 2018, Digital First Media put in a $11.9 million winning bid to purchase the Boston Herald.[19]
In November 2018, Digital First Media announced plans to lay off 107 staff from its Colorado Springs, Colorado financial services operations, as it outsources the work to Genpact starting December 28.[22][23]
In January 2019, Digital First Media acquired 7.5% of Gannett's public stock,[24] and made an unsolicited bid to acquire Gannett for $1.36 billion. On February 4, Gannett's board "unanimously rejected" the offer,[25] saying "that MNG does not have a realistic plan to acquire Gannett".[26] On February 11, Gannett issued a press release accusing Digital First Media of engaging in a proxy fight.[27] After a failed attempt to place 3 nominees on Gannett's board of directors through a proxy vote in May, DFM reduced their stake to 4.2%.[28] In August 2019, GateHouse Media ultimately announced its intent to acquire Gannett instead.[29]
In February 2020, Digital First Media purchased the assets of Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing/Big Fish Works. The sale included the Hutchinson Leader, the Litchfield Independent Review, the International Falls Journal, the Lakeshore Weekly News, the Chanhassen Villager, Chaska Herald, Eden Prairie News, Jordan Independent, Shakopee Valley News, Prior Lake American and the Savage Pacer.[30]
In April 2020, two of Minneapolis' west metro newspapers—The Eden Prairie News and Lakeshore Weekly News bought earlier in 2020 by Digital First Media—announced their closure at the end of April 2020 due to a decline in advertising revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[31][32]
In May 2021, Alden Global Capital acquired Tribune Publishing. With its combined holdings, Alden became the second-largest owner of newspapers in the United States in terms of subscribers, behind only Gannett.[33][34]
In July 2023, Digital First Media acquired The San Diego Union-Tribune for an undisclosed sum.[35] The next month, the company acquired The Scranton Times-Tribune and three other daily newspapers from Times-Shamrock Communications. The sale included weekly and periodic newspapers and commercial printing operations—Absolute Distribution Inc. and Times-Shamrock Creative Services.[36]
In April 2024, Southwest News Media, owned by Digital First Media, announced its weekly newspapers would cease before the end of the month, including: Chaska Herald, Chanhassen Villager, Jordan Independent, the Shakopee Valley News, Prior Lake American and Savage Pacer. Crow River Media, another subsidiary, announced The Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review will also close along with its affiliate printing plant.[37][38]
In January 2026, the company sold The Detroit News to Gannett, which in 2025 was renamed to USA Today Co.[39][40]
MediaNews Group is known as cutthroat in the newspaper publishing industry. The company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area (examples include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area) and consolidating their operations, including sharing staff writers and printing facilities.[45]
William Dean Singleton was quick to point out MediaNews' commitment to print journalism but resisted efforts to develop online web sites for his newspapers, believing print would remain the format favored by readers.[46]
In recent years similar criticism has been aimed at the new organizational structure under Digital First Media. The Denver Post editorial staff and others have criticized the owners of hedge fund group, Alden Global Capital. Alden has a reputation for cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers as Singleton had done and March 2018, The Washington Post called Alden "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism."[47][48]
Pension funds
The company has been criticized for investing its employee pensions in funds managed by its parent company, Alden Global Capital.[5]
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