By Robert MacMillan and Ben Klayman
NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two Boston businessmen have denied they were interested in buying The Boston Globe newspaper and a stake in the Red Sox baseball team, which are owned by the New York Times Co.
Monday's denials came from two of a handful of names mentioned in media reports as likely bidders for the properties, whose sale would be important for the Times to pay off looming debt that threatens its financial health.
Shares, which were already down Monday morning, fell 8 percent in after hours trade to $6.47 from their close on the New York Stock Exchange at $7.02.
Patrick Purcell, owner and publisher of the Globe's rival daily, the Boston Herald, said on Monday that he had not been approached by potential bidders for the Globe, nor has he contacted the New York Times to discuss buying the newspaper.
Former advertising executive Jack Connors, meanwhile, told the Boston Globe that he was not interested in the New York Times's properties.
Earlier in December, Purcell was hired as executive chairman of Ottaway Newspapers, a group of local papers owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. He continues to run the Herald as a separate business.
He said a Financial Times report that described a scenario of merging the Globe into News Corp and shutting down the Herald "is completely unfounded and not rooted in reality."
Purcell wants to make sure that Boston remains a two-newspaper town, an increasing rarity in the United States where papers face an uncertain future as readers desert their print editions.
"Mr Purcell is steadfast in his desire to keep two editorial voices in Boston," the statement said.
Connors, who expressed interest in buying the Globe two years ago along with former General Electric Co chief Jack Welch, told the Globe that he was not interested in the paper or a 17.5 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox.
The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported last week that the New York Times had approached Connors. He could not be reached for comment. A New York Times spokeswoman and a spokeswoman for Welch declined to comment.
The New York Times is looking for someone to buy its stake in New England Sports Ventures, a source familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak about it, confirmed on Saturday. Media reports have said the Globe could be sold, either along with the sports ventures stake or separately.
The New York Times could raise about $200 million from the sports ventures stake, analysts and bankers have said, which it could use to repay debt and shore up its cash resources as it faces a severe decline in newspaper advertising revenue.
New England Sports Ventures owns the Red Sox, the Fenway Park field where the Boston-based team plays, and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network, a cable network that covers New England and broadcasts Red Sox games.
Timing could prove crucial for the sale. The New York Times has a $400 million credit line due next May. It also is borrowing $225 million against its Manhattan headquarters. The company has made other moves to conserve cash, including cutting its dividend by nearly 75 percent.
The Globe likely would garner far less money. Barclays estimated the newspaper's value at about $20 million. The New York Times bought the paper and related assets for about $1 billion more than a decade ago.
Separately on Monday, the Times said in a filing with U.S. securities regulators that it might offer more shares or other securities to the public, a move that could ease some of the company's cash concerns.
(Reporting by Robert MacMillan in New York and Ben Klayman in Chicago; Editing by John Wallace, Matthew Lewis, Leslie Gevirtz)
