Union-Backed Investors Meet Deadline To Bid On The Sun-Times, Group Leader Says

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 11, 2017 2:45PM

Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson

The leader of a union-backed effort to purchase the Sun-Times confirmed that the group met Monday's deadline to put forth a bid for the paper. If a sale goes through, it would thwart Tronc's previously announced plans to buy the Sun-Times.

Former Alderman Edwin Eisendrath—who leads a group that includes the Chicago Federation of Labor and a small handful of other investors—told Chicagoist that they had cleared the Monday target. The investor group "will continue to work with Wrapports"— current owners of the Sun-Times—"to bring the transaction to a successful close," he told Chicagoist by email.

Robert Feder first reported the news of the Eisendrath group's confirmation of a formal bid.

The group secured at least $11 million in escrow—funds that would reportedly go toward operational costs rather than the purchase itself. Monday's deadline was set by the Department of Justice, which allowed for potential bidders of the Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader to come forward after Tronc made public in May its intent to purchase the two papers.

Tronc also owns the Chicago Tribune along with more than a dozen other media properties. Even as Tronc said in May that the Trib and Sun-Times would operate as independent newsrooms, the potential consolidation had many local media watchers worried about the ramifications of such a deal.

Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, declined to comment to Chicagoist when reached on Monday.