In case it is not subtle enough: I will cancel my subscription to The Miami Herald if an investor group including the Fanjul interests (Florida Crystals) buy the paper. That's a possibility according to a published report (reprinted below in its entirety).
The Fanjuls, along with US Sugar, own most of the Everglades Agricultural Area surrounding the southern rim of Lake Okeechobee. In total, there are around 700,000 acres in sugar production. The industry's practices are not exclusively responsible for the desperate condition of Florida's Everglades, and the pollution ringing Florida's coast, but its political influence is.
Those politics manifest every single day in Florida.
A recent news report quoted the Fanjuls as saying they "don't do local politics". Wrong. Through a legion of surrogates, the Fanjuls are hip-deep in every local county commission and legislative body in the state. In their view, that's just good business and no one can argue with their business acumen or success.
Sugar's political influence is ubiquitous as phosphorous pollution in the Everglades. It keeps a hush on criticism: from public broadcasting to foundations to educational institutions where "balance" turns out to be the construct of persistent, pervasive pressure.
Sugar was directly responsible for a state re-write of the fundamental law governing the parameters of "pollution" in the Everglades-- its effort was recently overturned with a stinging rebuke by Judge Alan Gold in Federal Court. To get its new bill through the legislature in 2003, the industry flooded the Senate chambers so there were more sugar lobbyists than state senators in the hallways of the Capitol. It pays for that weight through US farm policy that showers the nation's wealthiest farmers with price supports.
Governor Jeb Bush embraced the sugar industry's change because re-writing the definition of pollution is just the kind of predetermined outcome that fit his world view of winners and losers.
When Sugar talks, Floridians lose. If the Fanjuls buy The Miami Herald, Florida will be poorer by far.
Developer, sugar magnate weigh buying 'Miami Herald'
By MATTHEW HAGGMAN and MARTHA BRANNIGAN
The Miami Herald
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
MIAMI — South Florida real estate developer Jorge Perez confirmed Monday that he and Florida sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul held talks with executives from the McClatchy Co. and The Miami Herald Media Co. about a possible sale of the Miami paper.
"Nothing has materialized,'' said Perez, chairman of Related Group in Miami.
Perez said he met a couple times with newspaper executives about a month ago but hasn't talked since.
"It didn't proceed any further than that, at least on my side,'' Perez said.
Fanjul, CEO of West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals, couldn't be reached immediately for comment.
It isn't clear whether McClatchy - whose stock has slid 80 percent this year - has met with other potential buyers.
"It's absolutely not our policy to comment on any market discussions of any acquisitions or dispositions,'' said Elaine Lintecum, treasurer of Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy, which owns 28 other daily newspapers in addition to The Herald and El Nuevo Herald.
The newspaper industry is in upheaval as it confronts a severe recessionary downturn in advertising just as it is coping with a structural revolution as advertisers and readers shift to the Internet.
Though papers are moving rapidly to adapt to the Web, with multimedia content and continuous news updates, the new revenue from online hasn't grown fast enough to make up for lost revenue from advertising and circulation at the printed newspaper.
John Morton, president of Morton Research, in Silver Spring, Md. said "half or more of the advertising revenue of big city newspapers comes from classified ads - from auto, real estate and job formation. And all three are in the tank since the middle of last year and unlikely to come out of it until the latter part of 2009 or 2010.''
But the larger question, Morton said, is "how much of what newspapers have lost will they be able to get back when the recovery comes.''
6 comments:
Jorge Perez and the sugar boys take over the Herald. A destroyed paper taken over by the very people who destroyed Florida. Jorge seems to be surviving the downturn, even though he went wild during the bubble. Who's backing him?
The move by these two on the Miami Herald would make this blog wildly popular. We might actually make some money: I say go for it!
Gimleteye writes:
You have a point, there: we probably could have advertisers on this blog in that case.
U.S. Sugar $1.34 billion land deal opposition increases
By SUSAN SALISBURY
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
In an effort to derail the proposed $1.34 billion buyout of U.S. Sugar Corp. land, three top executives with competitor Florida Crystals Corp. met Tuesday in Tallahassee with unidentified representatives from Gov. Charlie Crist's office, the Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District.
The governor's press secretary, Sterling Ivey, said he was unaware of the meeting.
"We are in Tallahassee to have conversations with the state about all this money they are giving away," said Gaston Cantens, the vice president of West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals. Cantens, with company Vice President J. Pepe Fanjul Jr. and General Counsel Armando Tabernilla were there "to make sure there is no misunderstanding about what our position is and what our objections are," he said.
In June, Crist proposed buying out U.S. Sugar entirely for $1.75 billion and using its land to restore the Everglades. In November, Crist announced the state would buy only the company's land for $1.34 billion, which would allow U.S. Sugar to keep its manufacturing works and remain in business indefinitely.
Monday, U.S. Sugar's board agreed to the deal.
The South Florida Water Management District has until Dec. 16 to vote on the contract.
Opposition is growing. In a letter from the Miami-Dade County legislative delegation to the water district, the South Florida lawmakers wrote that the deal "appears to be nothing more than a corporate buyout." They raised concerns about an increase in taxes for "our already overtaxed constituents," during a severe economic recession and emphasize that the district, which is an appointed panel, does not have to answer to voters.
The delegation is expected to meet with water district officials today.
Opposition from Clewiston and Glades area residents, whose economy depends on sugar operations, continues.
"The whole deal has changed so much," said Chris Shupe, president of Olde Cypress Community Bank in Clewiston. "If the deal goes through as it is on the table now, ultimately it spells the demise of the Glades' economy, especially Clewiston," Shupe said. "Without a mill and refinery, you don't have the jobs. Without the land, there is no reason for a mill and refinery. The idea that they have tried to float that they will import cane from Mexico or that ethanol will take its place is ludicrous. It defies logic and common sense."
Given U.S. Sugar's clout in their community, Carl Berner, president of Berner Oil Co. in Clewiston, said he and other leaders have put their "heads on the chopping block" by speaking out against the buyout as proposed. Others are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution against their businesses, Berner said. But, he added, "Somebody has to stand up and say, this is wrong. Let's slow this process down."
In fact, it's not a done deal. U.S. Sugar is a Delaware corporation, and under Delaware law, an investment bank will have two months to shop the company to other potential purchasers. One may already be waiting in the wings: The Lawrence Group, a Nashville-based farming company with extensive Florida citrus holdings, has offered $300 per share for the company.
U.S. Sugar maintains the privately held firm has not made a formal offer.
The Lawrence Group counters that it made offers in writing, but that U.S. Sugar has refused to meet with it.
"We believe the Board of Directors of U.S. Sugar has clearly breached its fiduciary duties to its stockholders," said The Lawrence Group's Gaylon Lawrence Jr. in a statement released on Tuesday.
However, following the Tallahassee meeting, Florida Crystals' Cantens said objections to the deal made by the trio of executives fell on deaf ears. "Nothing has changed," he said.
Find this article at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/local_news/epaper/2008/12/09/1208sugar.html
Joanna and Otis Wragg will probably be the new editors. Once big at the Herald and Miami News, they have been flacks for big sugar for decades. He was on their payroll when she was chief of the Herald's editorial board.
Maybe they could team up with Lowe's.
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