Red Sox owner John Henry to buy The Boston Globe for US$70m

John Henry took a failing club in a dilapidated park and transformed it into a two-time World Series champion that is one of baseball's model franchises.

As the new owner of The Boston Globe, he will try to turn around a newspaper that - like many other major metro dailies - is shedding staff, subscribers and advertisers as it makes the transition into the internet age.

Henry, who also owns soccer club Liverpool in the English Premier League, agreed to buy the Globe for US$70 million, a fraction of the US$1.1 billion The New York Times company paid 20 years ago, among the highest prices paid for a US newspaper. At the time, the Globe was one of the nation's most prestigious papers in a more robust newspaper environment. But like other newspapers, it began to lose readers and advertisers to the internet, and revenue slumped.

For the Globe, the planned sale restores a Boston connection that prevailed for 120 years under the Taylor family, which owned the paper from 1873 until its sale 20 years ago. While not from Boston, Henry has for the last decade been active in local sports, and his Fenway Sports Group owns the Red Sox baseball club, its home base Fenway Park and 80 per cent of cable TV's New England Sports Network.

"This is a thriving, dynamic region that needs a strong, sustainable Boston Globe playing an integral role in the community's long-term future," Henry said in a statement about the sale. "In coming days there will be announcements concerning those joining me in this community commitment and effort."

In addition to the Globe, the sale includes BostonGlobe.com; Boston.com; the direct-mail marketing company Globe Direct; the company's 49 per cent interest in Metro Boston, a free daily paper; Telegram.com and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The Times bought the Telegram & Gazette for US$295 million in 1999.