New York Times sells Boston Globe for $70 million

NYT had bought the Globe for $1.1 bn 20 years ago, mostly in stock

New York Times Co, which put its Boston Globe newspaper up for sale earlier this year, has agreed to sell the publication to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, for $70 million in cash.

The deal, which also includes the Globe's website, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and its website, Boston.com, a 49 percent stake in Metro Boston, and the Globe's direct mail marketing company GlobeDirect, is expected to close in 30 to 60 days, the New York Times said in a statement.

Times Co. put the Boston Globe up for sale in February and hired Evercore Partners Inc to manage the process, part of an effort to focus on its flagship New York Times media brand. New York Times, which bought the Globe for $1.1 billion 20 years ago, mostly in stock, is coping with an industrywide decline in advertising that has caused a drop in sales and stock prices. Bids for the Globe were expected to be in the range of $100 million, people familiar with the matter said earlier this year.