Katz picks up control of Inquirer, Daily News at auction
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
After a protracted feud between South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross and billionaire Lewis Katz, who owned major stakes in Interstate General Media, the parent company of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, the region's newspaper wars may be coming to an end.
Katz and another IGM co-owner, fellow billionaire Gerry Lenfest, won full control of the media company at a public auction today, ending nearly a year of turmoil at the papers.
From the Inquirer:
Katz and Lenfest bid $88 million, a figure that includes the assigned value of all the shares of the company plus existing debt recently pegged at about $15.3 million.
Katz said he believed that "both parties" won. "One party got a wonderful return on its investment, and the other party has the privilege to give the newspaper . . . all it needs."
The fate of Philly.com, which had been managed by Norcross' daughter, was still unclear.
