Times Co. seeks to divest rest of Fenway assets after stake sale
New York Times Co. is looking to divest the rest its stake in Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, after selling a third of the holding for $30 million.
Times Co., based in New York, expects to make a pretax gain of $18 million on the sale, to multiple unidentified buyers, in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing today.
Times Co. is divesting sports assets while grappling with declining profit and publishing sales. The company, which owns The Boston Globe and About.com, reported a 12 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit yesterday, capping a year marked by shrinkage of print advertising.
The sale values Times Co.’s remaining stake at $63 million and Fenway Sports Group, which also owns the English Premier League soccer team Liverpool Football Club and 80 percent of regional sports cable network New England Sports Network, at $1.27 billion.
