His background is newspapering, but Robert Maynard showed the cunning of an investment banker last week in preventing the Oakland Tribune from closing down for good. Maynard, the only black owner of a metropolitan newspaper in the U.S., raised the last-minute cash by playing on the rivalry between the paper's largest creditor, the Gannett chain, and that company's retired chief, Allen Neuharth.
Maynard bought the paper from Gannett for $22 million in 1983 but stopped payments in 1986. Now owing $31.5 million, including interest, he threatened to close the money-losing daily unless Gannett settled for $2.5 million. Maynard then arranged for...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
