Friday, Dec. 8, 2017
Dear Employees,
This is an emotional day for me as I announce to you that I have reached an
agreement, subject to court approval, with GateHouse Media for them to acquire the
Boston Herald.
I am very proud of the spectacular management team with whom I have worked
hand in hand over the years. And I am equally as proud of the excellent staff in all
areas of our company who have worked tirelessly to make the Boston Herald a
relevant and respected provider of local and regional news for Boston and the area.
Boston is a better city for the Herald's unique and fearless local reporting. Because
of all of you, we are well known for our influential political, community, business and
sports coverage across the region and beyond.
But, as you know, in recent years, we have been fighting against the tide of a
changing newspaper environment. I am very proud that we recognized the
oncoming challenges to the newspaper industry earlier than many other publishers.
With your cooperation and sacrifice, we attacked our expenses: froze wages,
outsourced printing and delivery and moved to less expensive office space.
Simultaneously we did everything we could to drive revenue. We increased the
cover price on the daily; and on Sunday, we increased home delivery prices.
We tried to drive advertising revenue in paper, online, on radio and in combination.
We pulled many tricks out of our hat but the time has come when nothing is left in
the hat.
The terrible reality is that between 2000 and 2017, we reduced our overhead by
about $69 million but total revenue declined by $81 million.
All I ever wanted to do was keep the Boston Herald alive. And it is with this pending
sale that I am able to do that in these difficult newspapering times. I am certain this
is the best pathway forward for you and for the newspaper we have nurtured
together, in my case, for the last 33 years.
Today, we reached an agreement in principle to sell the Boston Herald, Inc. (BHI) to
the company that bought Community Newspaper Co. from us 11 years ago.
GateHouse Media is one of the largest publishers of locally-based media in the
United States. In Massachusetts alone, it publishes the Worcester Telegram &
Gazette, the Cape Cod Times, the Patriot Ledger and more than 100 other weekly
and daily newspapers.
To allow for an orderly sale of the business, and because no one would buy the
Herald outside of bankruptcy with our significant pension and retirement liabilities,
BHI filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition today. Even while we have

 reached an agreement with GateHouse, the court requires us to hold an auction to
allow other buyers the opportunity to submit competing offers.
I know this is a lot for you to take in today. And as I speak with you directly this
afternoon, I will try to answer as many immediate questions as I am able. But this
process does not take place in a day, a week or even a month. The management
team is working closely with our legal team and other advisers as we do our very
best to navigate this period of transition.
As we proceed, we will continue to produce a daily newspaper. We will work
together tomorrow, just as we did today.
Because we are operating under the supervision of Chapter 11, we will ask that the
bankruptcy court grant various forms of relief allowing us to make payments in the
ordinary course of business to employees and other important constituencies so
that there is no impact on day-to-day operations.
You can also expect that we will contact the authorized representatives of all of our
employee unions to discuss the impact of the sale on their members. Additionally,
we anticipate reaching out to all employees regarding any significant developments.
In the meantime, you may contact John Flinn with any urgent questions that you
may have. We will do our best to answer questions as quickly as possible.
On a personal note, the Boston Herald has been my life, my family's life, for more
than three decades. I was honored to accept Rupert Murdoch's offer to become
publisher of this great newspaper in 1984, and then to become its owner a decade
later. Even as tumultuous and difficult as it has sometimes been, I can't imagine
another career or another industry that would have been more fulfilling or more
rewarding. I feel truly blessed.
The hardest part of this day is that I know we will part company sometime next
year. I will tell you this individually again, but please accept my heartfelt thanks for
all you, and the many alumni of the Herald, have done over the years to make this
newspaper great.
The city and the region are in your debt, and so am I.

Pat

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