Get Well Soon: Greeting Card Mogul Prepping $200M Bid for Boston Globe

Aaron Kushner wants to buy New England Media Group from the New York Times Company

The Boston Globe says that Aaron Kushner, a local greeting card mogul, is planning to offer $200 million to buy the paper and its parent New England Media Group from the New York Times Company.

“When we have all of the pieces in place to not just purchase but enrich the institutions, we look forward to making a formal offer,” Kushner said in a statement. (A spokeswoman for the Times Co. declined to comment.)

He has been mulling a bid for the Globe for a while. Last October, Kushner said he would “soon” make an offer for the unit, which includes the Globe, Boston.com and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The 2100 Trust, Kushner’s LLC, issued this statement at the time:

The Boston Globe has been a pillar in the city, the Commonwealth and the region for more than a century. We believe that The Boston Globe's strongest days can be ahead. It is essential that the Globe be positioned for its next 100 years. This will require the significant long-term investment that we intend to make.

What’s interesting here is that while Kushner appears to sweeter than what some have estimated the Globe to be worth ($120 million one noted media appraiser said last fall) it’s still a helluvalot less than what the Times bought it for.

In 1993, the Times Company paid $1.1 billion to buy the Globe, and $296 million in 2000 for T&G.

A company pre-emptively confirming its own bid, as Kushner’s did, is unusual since it could inspire other entrepreneurs to make competing offers.

Of course, floating the prospective bid could also inspire more investors to back Kushner’s bid.

According to the Globe, Kushner is backed by former Globe editor Ben Bradlee Jr. and Benjamin and Stephen Taylor, part of the family that sold the Globe to the Times.

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