Hollinger International Inc.

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Hollinger International Inc. is the former name of Sun-Times Media Group Inc. which is owned by Hollinger Inc.. Sun-Times Media Group Inc. owns the Chicago Sun-Times and a large number of community newspapers in the Chicago area. [1]

History

During November 2003 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it was investigating the company. After an admission that several directors had received unauthorized payments totalling $32 million, CEO Conrad Black resigned, but stayed on as Chairman. [1]

The SEC is also (as of December 2003) investigating dealings with companies with links to Henry Kissinger and Richard N. Perle. Hollinger put £8m into UK firm Cambridge Display Technology, in which Perle has a stake, and £1.5m in Trireme Associates, which has links to venture capital fund Trireme Partners LP, co-managed by Perle. Kissinger served as a board member of Trireme. [2]

Hollinger International makes an annual contribution of $200,000 to The National Interest, a conservative quarterly magazine that also has links to Perle and Kissinger. [3]

The Company's assets include the Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Sun (13%) and La Republica (Central America)

In 2004 the Barclay brothers bought The Telegraph Group in the UK, which includes The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator, from Hollinger after a lengthy Hollinger court battle. In December 2004 Hollinger International completed the sale of The Jerusalem Post (English daily newspaper) and Jerusalem Report to Israeli publisher Mirkaei Tikshoret. [4][5]

The company holdings are labyrinthine: "The operations of Hollinger, for the year ended December 31, 2001, consisted of the Chicago Group, Community Group, U.K. Newspaper Group and Canadian Newspaper Group." Ravelston Corporation, a private company controlled (with 65% ownership) by Conrad Black, is Hollinger, Inc.'s parent company; Hollinger, Inc. is a Toronto-listed company that owns 30% of Hollinger International (72% of the voting stock), a Delaware, US, company. The company's Canadian newspapers are owned through Hollinger Canadian Newspapers, Limited Partnership (Hollinger L.P.), in which Hollinger Inc holds an 87% interest. [6], [7] These arrangements allowed Black, with only 15% ownership, to exercise a free hand in the operations of Hollinger International.

On March 14, 2006, [Blommberg] reported that Peter White, who helped Conrad Black build Hollinger International Inc. had lost his fight to rejoin the board of Black's former holding company. [8]

Officers

Contact

Paul B. Healy
Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations
712 5th Avenue
New York, New York 10019
Phone: 212-586-5666
Fax: 212-586-0010
Web: http://www.hollinger.com/

External links

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

References

  1. History, Hollinger, accessed August 2007.