Local Colorado Group Offers ‘At Least $10 Million’ for Denver Post

“Denver Post is currently profitable,” says Together for Colorado Springs chair

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Embattled newspaper the Denver Post may have found a lifeline this week after a local Colorado group offered a $10 million bid to purchase it.

“If fair terms can be worked out, our committee members have pledged at least $10 million towards a purchase. We understand that ‘patient capital’ will be needed to return the state’s flagship newspaper to sustainability first and then true profitability,” said John Weiss, chair of Together for Colorado Springs (T4CS), a civic organization, in a press statement.

“According to industry reports, the Denver Post is currently profitable,” Weiss added in the same release. “But it is not making enough money to satisfy its current, out-of- state, hedge fund owners. Cutting core staff — not just in the newsroom, but in circulation, marketing, accounting, and throughout the paper — will never lead to the journalism Colorado deserves.”

The New York Times reported about the group’s bid for the paper late Thursday evening.

Since being acquired by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, the Denver Post has steadily hemorrhaged staff. Where once the paper boasted more than 300 employees, the newsroom in 2018 has shrunk to around 70.

After the latest round of cuts earlier this year, remaining staffers published a blistering editorial attacking their corporate overlords and warning that the paper was in danger of collapsing.

“At The Denver Post on Monday, more than two dozen reporters, editors, photographers, videographers, page designers, digital producers and opinion staff will walk out the door. Our marching orders are to cut a full 30 by the start of July,” read the editorial titled, “As Vultures Circle the Denver Post Must be Saved.”

“These heartbreaking instructions raise the question: Does this cut, which follows so many in recent years that our ranks have shriveled from more than 250 to fewer than 100 today, represent the beginning of the end for the Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire?” the editorial asked.

Alden did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap about whether they would consider a sale.

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