The New York Times Co has received at least two preliminary bids for the Boston Globe, the Globe reported on Friday. One bid is from a group led by Boston Celtics co-owner and Bain Capital executive Stephen G. Pagliuca and Jack Connors, the chairman of Partners HealthCare, the other is led by Stephen E. Taylor, a former Globe executive and member of the family that sold the paper to the Times Co in 1993.

In June, amidst tough union negotiations, it emerged that the New York Times Co had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to help broker a sale of the Globe. The Times Co gave interested bidders until July 30 to outline their plans for the newspaper and its website. The company has asked that potential bidders include taking out $51 million in pension liabilities and for the Globe and $8 million for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which the Times wants to package in a Globe sale, according to the Globe.

The Pagliuca-Connors group reportedly proposed establishing a nonprofit foundation to help fund and run the news operation. This would mean that the paper would aim to make enough money to support its journalism but free it from pressure to make large profits.

A nonprofit model could, however, be difficult to establish, according to the Boston Herald. The paper points to the example of the nonprofit Poynter Institute, which owns the for-profit St Petersburg Times in Florida. According to Roy Peter Clark, vice president at Poynter, who is quoted in the Herald, switching to a nonprofit structure essentially involves the paper's owner donating it to a nonprofit charity. Then it is necessary to decide what sort of nonprofit instituion would oversee the paper. It would be preferable to establish the publication as a for-profit owned by a nonprofit, as a pure nonprofit structure would mean that the paper would not be legally permitted to make any political endorsements.

It is not clear whether other bids have been submitted. Mort Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News, is thought to be interested, the Globe reported. The Times Co is expected to review the bids it has received and invite some to submit more specific proposals. According to the Globe, the value of the property housing the Globe may well be an important component of any bids offered.

The Boston Globe's future has been uncertain for some months now, with employees suffering pay cuts and losses in benefits. Will it soon be resolved?

Source: Boston Globe, Boston Herald