I used to work for Conrad Black. This was back when I was at the Canton (Ill.) Daily Ledger, which was owned by American Publishing Company, which was owned by Hollinger International. I have not the faintest idea who owned whom now, because I escaped that hellhole of a corporation many years ago. I worked for them for slightly longer than one year and not a month in which conditions were not worse than the previous month because of the company’s insistence on increasing profitability by cutting wages and benefits.
So, it was no surprise when I came across this item from Crain’s Chicago Business:
Conrad Black’s empire may look small next to some other media powers, but the press baron ? who is actually a British lord ? collects a king’s ransom from the public company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times.
In the past five years, Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc., where Mr. Black is CEO, has funneled more than $300 million to Mr. Black, his closest lieutenants and entities they control, company filings show.
During the same period, the company’s aggregate net income was only $26 million, with more than a half-billion dollars in losses recorded over the last two years. And its public shareholders saw the value of their stock fall 42%, while the Standard & Poor’s index of printing and publishing stocks rose 24%.
The flurry of inside dealing took place within the elaborate corporate structure Mr. Black uses to maintain control of holdings that include a stable of suburban Chicago papers, London’s Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.
Hollinger Inc., a public Canadian company controlled by Mr. Black’s private investment vehicle, controls Hollinger International through a class of “supervoting” stock with 10 times the voting power of the Class A common shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. That gives Mr. Black 70% of the voting power at Hollinger International, even though public shareholders hold about 70% of the company’s total equity.
Someone please explain to me why Black isn’t being sued by a disgruntled stockholder.
Conrad Black,American Publishing Company,Chicago Sun-Times
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