Tribune Publishing and BR Holding Co. will sell the BestReviews website to TV station owner Nexstar Media Group for $160 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
The deal to sell the profitable e-commerce website is pending regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of the year.
Tribune Publishing bought a 60% stake in BestReviews for $66 million in February 2018, with its founder, BR Holding, retaining 40%. Under the terms of the deal, Tribune Publishing will receive $96 million, less transaction fees and a working capital adjustment.
“This cash return strengthens our already robust balance sheet and provides financial and operational flexibility,” Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez said in a news release.
Tribune Publishing, which owns the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, had $90 million in cash at the end of September, according to its third-quarter financial filings.
As part of the deal, Tribune Publishing will enter into a licensing and revenue-sharing agreement for the continued use of BestReviews content on its websites, the company said.
BestReviews’ new owner, Dallas-based Nexstar, bought Tribune Media — the former parent company of Tribune Publishing — for $4.1 billion last year, adding WGN-Ch. 9, national cable channel WGN America and WGN-AM 720 to its portfolio.
The company said it is looking to diversify its digital content and leverage the nation’s largest TV station group to grow the online reach of BestReviews.
“We are ideally positioned to quickly scale BestReviews through increased content syndication and brand awareness,” Tom Carter, Nexstar’s president, said in a separate news release.
Mason Slaine, Tribune Publishing’s third-largest shareholder with a 7.9% stake, has been vocal in pushing for a sale of BestReviews. In March filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Slaine urged Tribune Publishing to divest BestReviews and get out of the e-commerce business.
On Wednesday, Slaine said in an email he was glad Tribune Publishing was selling BestReviews and the company “should focus on the news business.”
In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing owns the Baltimore Sun; Hartford Courant; Orlando Sentinel; South Florida Sun Sentinel; New York Daily News; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.
