PORTLAND, Maine — The husband of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree is providing a multimillion loan and taking an ownership stake in the financially struggling company that owns The Portland Press Herald, officials said Friday.
MaineToday Media announced that it had reached terms with Maine Values LLC that includes a loan valued at between $3 million and $4 million. Maine Values is owned by S. Donald Sussman, a hedge fund manager and philanthropist who wed Pingree last year.
Sussman, who’ll own a 5 percent stake and have a seat on the board, told the Portland Press Herald that he won’t be involved in daily operations or editorial policy.
“I believe a community’s newspaper says a lot about the importance it places on education, democracy and working together to get things done,” Sussman said in a statement. “I am investing in and loaning working capital to MaineToday Media because I believe the communities it serves deserve healthy, financially stable daily newspapers that can help foster these values we all share.”
Sussman, of North Haven, is the founder of the Paloma Partners hedge fund, an investment firm in Greenwich, Conn., that manages more than $1.7 billion in funds.
MaineToday Media owns and operates the Kennebec Journal, the Morning Sentinel and the Coastal Journal, in addition to the Portland Press Herald and several digital properties.
The deal announced on Friday comes a month after investors led by former Portland Press Herald President Chris Harte and the 2100 Trust LLC agreed to a deal to become the majority owner of MaineToday Media. The deal fell through after the newspaper’s biggest union rejected demands for broad concessions.
Sussman said he got involved after members of The Portland Newspaper Guild convinced him that the newspapers were at risk of closing without a quick infusion of cash.
Press Herald staff writer and Portland Newspaper Guild President Tom Bell said his union members are supportive of the new partnership with Maine Values LLC.
“Our members are partial owners of MaineToday Media through our employee stock ownership program,” said Bell. “We have worked hard in partnership with management and the board of directors to help shape a plan to modernize our technology and strengthen this business. We are encouraged that Maine Values LLC supports that plan and is providing the resources to fund it.”
A George Soros crony on the Board of directors….I am sure that is not going to foster a more balanced approach to news reporting
You’ll need to spend more time in front of Fox News. All hail Rush Limbaugh the liberal idea killer.
I like how you tried to turn it around on him.
Good one!
I like how he failed to turn anything around in the minds of anybody except the ignorant.
Follow The Money….
………….directly to Chellie!
AGAIN……..you post your inability to speak towards a focused article, and rather post on a remark of of another poster’s post, or even the story itself.’
There has gotta be something that Millinocket can gain from this……”they deserve it”…Ask him…he’ll tell you all about it! He know’s,…because he lives up there. ….ask him?
Why do you suppose there is a reply button? How else are the A-hatters on these pages going to learn anything? Oh, I forgot, you’re not interested in learning anything. You prefer to post based on your own misguided musings, and are resistant to learning from others. Maybe it’s time for you to get a new hobby.
He is a Liberal fanboy, his learning days are far behind him.
I once thought the Kennebec Journal and Maine Today Media couldn’t get any more liberal…I was wrong.”
“Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.” Mark Twain
What is LIBERAL: about MTM? They were conservative under Connor.
I wonder who the paper is going to endorse for US Representative this fall. Pingrees opponent? I doubt it. Ethics would dictate that they not report on any political news relating to Pingree at all if her husband is making investments in the paper or providing capital. That is my opinion.
Put the shoe on the other foot. “John McKernan makes multi-million dollar contribution to Fox News. Mr. McKernan is a multi-millionaire Republican Business man who is married to Republican Senator Olympia Snowe.” Can you hear the howls?
But Mr. Sussman is really not a 1% at all, and neither is his Democrat Representative Wife. So as a result, everything is just fine.
What Opponent< The reppugs are letting it go this year.
I dont live in her district. Your handle suggests that you do. So no one has entered the race as an opponent against her yet?
It smells no matter who does it. Anyone seen employing these tactics to influence public opinion should be ostracized and drummed out of office. Party affiliation be damned, It’s wrong and we all know it. We need to be Americans and stand for fair play first and put party loyalty aside when it comes to this sort of thing. Unfortunately, some people are un-American.
I agree with you 100%.
What tactics did Sussman employ? The newspaper group approached him with their need for an investment. He didn’t exactly muscle his way in.
When the newspaper makes their future endorsements, keep their ownership in mind, just like others do when Murdoch owned newspapers make their endorsements.
How do you spell “i n f l u e n c e” ?
C h e l l i e S u s s m a n !
Perhaps someday, someone, and it’s my belief that this state and this nation will see the better angels of it’s nature…….Abe Lincoln
All the news fit to spin and lie about!
No wonder it is going broke, but the Donald can write it off, he is one of the 1% ers!
Does this mean that when they run an article about Pingree they will disclose their financial ties to her husband? Doubt it. All is good in liberal world according to their lockstep press and fellow corruptocrats.
The BDN is no different.
This is excellent news! I love Chellie; she is the best Congressperson in America!
no quite. she is phony. she talks about campaign finance reform. that, apparently, is the rule for everyone else. she will buy her way to her next election. she and donald did last time. he gave all that money to those organizations who supported her. lets not accept it this time around mainers!
She bought it, give me a break, you guys put up the weakest candidate in the state. Where is he now, on K Street in Washington.
Really…I emailed her a question..she answered the email..but avoided the question..she is full of s — !
Have you ever emailed any politician that actually answered your question ? Most, whether R or D reply with a standard: ‘I will certainly keep your views in mind.’
YES…and do often…Olympia ALWAYS answers any question I ask and in full.
But, but, but………he’s one of those evil, hedgefund, Wall Street fat cats!!So howl away, libs and lamestream media.
Come on……..howl away.
Ummm………it’s time to howl, leftists and lamestream media.
(Crickets………crickets….crickets…….)
if he has so much money why is he so interested in catchers mitts?
Everybody who ever complained the BDN was biased can just keep quiet now. This is great news, now we’ll all get a chance to see a truly biased rag!
i can’t wait to watch this unravel. the wealthy billioniare hedgefund mogul buys a paper. maybe the wife will actually get the endorsement this year. i hope mainers see this for what it is. she talks about being concerned for poor mainers. this from the woman who flies around in a private jet. mainers are struggling. lets vote her out in november. i’m sure they will be happy in his tax-sheltered virgin islands. phonies.
more socialist proaganda waiting in the media wings for Mainers..
Look on the bright side, In all of the convenience stores that I’ve visited in the Augusta area, the New York Post is available for sail. Watching Fox News and reading the New York Post it doesn’t get any better.
The article says ” Sussman, of North Haven ” when it should say “Sussman, from away ” already points to the fact that he will have editorial influence !
I’m not sure it really matters, Chellie appears to be a lifer… her subjects in Southern Maine are already brainwashed.
http://www.robertmonks.com/InvestmentOpportunities/tabid/103/Default.aspx
Is he an owner also?
I’ll bet they won’t be writing any stories about the predatory practices of hedge funds,they are the reason that oil is so high.
They are the reason OIL is so High…….Try State Pension Funds.
You do realize that pension funds hire hedge funds and investment banks to trade and invest. A pension fund can’t trade.
Thank you Mr. Sussman. Your loan makes it possible for readers in Central & Southern Maine to continue having a newspaper to read. I say to you who don’t like it, start your own paper. Your right to exercise your 1st amendment rights are not thwarted by Mr Sussman’s loan and Board position but, must you continuously whine. Geez I wish for once you guys said something kind, decent or appreciative. This man can spend his money anywhere he chose and elected to invest in Maine’s newspapers. I think that’s a good thing.
Doesn’t it make any difference where the money comes from? If you speculate in oil and commodities to artificially pump up oil to the point that we have now, then Mainer’s misery is on your hands. Mainers are hocking their homes and cars to pay the oil man.
As if these papers were not liberal enough already! Is the BDN next?
“Left Wing rag gets more money infused into their propaganda machine”.
So, are Chellie and S. Donald Sussman condemned as the 1%? I believe they are embraced by the Occupiers, but the evidence will be there when the paper becomes even more liberal than now!
It’s not like the PPH can get any more biased and liberal. Seriously, their poster boy is Bill Nemitz. Perhaps having Mr. Pingree around will help others learn how they too can avoid US taxes by living in the Virgin Islands.
If the Press Herald ever considered doing a story on Chellie’s ethical lapses, you can bet your bottom dollar that it NEVER will now.