The Maynard Era
In 1983, Maynard and his wife, Nancy Hicks Maynard, purchased the Tribune from Gannett for $17 million (financed by a loan from Gannett) in the first management-led leveraged buyout in U.S. newspaper history. It was also historic for the Tribune becoming the first major metropolitan daily newspaper owned by an African-American. This was seen as especially notable as Oakland was developing a relatively large African-American community which, by the 1980s, was becoming increasingly influential in local business and politics. Maynard helped restore the paper's reputation, earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
But for all of its editorial kudos under Maynard, the Tribune still was plagued by financial difficulties beyond Maynard's control. Facing a debt of $31.5 million and on the brink of folding in August 1991, the Tribune was saved by the Freedom Forum, Allen H. Neuharth's media foundation. The Freedom Forum paid Gannett $2.5 million, retired the Tribune's debt and gave Maynard $5 million in operating funds. But the rescue proved to be short-lived, and the continuing financial pressures -- combined with the disclosure in July 1992 that Robert Maynard had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer -- forced the Maynards to put the Tribune up for sale.
Read more about this topic: Oakland Tribune
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