BOSTON — Businessman John Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, has entered into an agreement to buy The Boston Globe for $70 million, a massive drop from its record $1.1 billion price two decades ago.
The impending purchase from The New York Times Co. marks Henry’s “first foray into the financially unsettled world of the news media,” the Globe said Saturday. The deal will give Henry the 141-year-old newspaper, its websites and affiliated companies, it said.
The Times announced in February it was putting the Globe and related assets up for sale four years after calling off a previous attempt to sell it. The company’s CEO said at the time selling the Globe would help the company focus attention on The New York Times brand.
Henry cited the “essential role that its journalists and employees play in Boston, throughout New England, and beyond.”
“The Boston Globe’s award-winning journalism as well as its rich history and tradition of excellence have established it as one of the most well respected media companies in the country,” Henry said in a statement.
Globe editor Brian McGrory said the newspaper’s Red Sox coverage and its editorial decisions won’t be affected.
“We have no plans whatsoever to change our Red Sox coverage specifically, or our sports coverage in general, nor will we be asked,” McGrory told the newspaper.
