Thursday, August 31, 2006
CV outs two of the local TL owners
Chuck Parente (Pagnotti Enterprises, other interests) and Frank Henry (Martz Trailways) are two of the Wilkes-Barre owners of the Times Leader, Tim Gulla revealed in the Citizens' Voice this morning. Will the TL follow it up tomorrow? And will it note the stakes of the two men when it writes about them?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I figured Parente; may have noted it here. Still figure deNaples, maybe Andy Sordoni.
I think this is the key point, which supports what Connors has been saying all along:
"Legal experts with knowledge of FCC guidelines said the legalese “insulated and non-attributable” meant neither Henry nor Sedgwick Co. has any control over the operations or management of the Times Leader."
There's the "legalese" and there's the reality.
Here's the reality:
The controlling partner is a money management firm in Texas that has never owned a newspaper before. They are going to be 100% dependent on Connor to run the TL. If he makes the profit they want, they are happy.
These local owners collectively control 25% of the ownership of the TL, not the "less than 10%" that has been claimed. They are guys, like Henry and Parente, with lots of power and local contacts. Also, Connor (the Publisher and Editor) has a fiduciary duty to them as shareholders. Connor is going to be relying on these men for advice, for guidance and getting into the local circles of money and power. Remember, Connor has been gone for 20 years - he needs these guys to get him up to speed. The local investors want him to make lots of money so they can make lots of money. Because of this unique scenario, and despite their minority interest, the local investors will have lots of power over the paper behind the scenes.
Maybe Louis Pag the third, that well known philanthropist known for a certain rush-trip to the Avoca airport?
totall disagree with the 10:26 poster. These local investors have no clue how to run a paper. They backed Connor (who does) in order to keep the paper from ending up in the Lynett's hands and are relying on his expertise to run it. After the way KR and McHugh ran it, it should be a piece of cake to improve things at the TL. As for relying on these investors to get him into the local cirlces of money and power....they are the local circle of money and power.
"As for relying on these investors to get him into the local cirlces of money and power....they are the local circle of money and power."
Money and power. Two of the best reasons for not allowing them to remain a secret.
The investors used there money to do a good thing...keep the TL alive. They could have invested a lot more to have control, but they don't want it. They just didn't want to see it go away. Collectively they helped, but I assure you all 5 investors have much bigger things going on than their small investment in the TL
Post a Comment