John Henry Now Owns the Boston Globe

A judge has lifted the injunction that prevented the New York Times Co. from finalizing its sale of the Boston Globe and other media properties to Red Sox owner John Henry, so … Rain delay’s over! Time to play ball transfer ownership of a media conglomerate. The Globe confirms that the sale has been finalized:

BREAKING: Boston Globe sale to Red Sox owner John Henry finalized

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) October 24, 2013

A Superior Court judge had earlier delayed the sale of the New England Media Group to Henry because of a 2009 lawsuit between the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and a group of its newspaper carriers. The carriers have argued that they were incorrectly classified as contractors rather than employees and are owed about $60 million in compensation. (John Henry purchased the entire New England Media Group for about $70 million so that’s no small chunk of change.) The plaintiffs were concerned that the sale might prevent them from getting their due at the conclusion of the suit, but the Times Co. agreed to set aside a sum equal to the fair market value of the Telegram & Gazette (ha, probably not anywhere near $60 million) to resolve a settlement, the Globe reports today. The carriers’ lawyers were expected to file an appeal but the Times Co. didn’t wait around before finalizing the sale, the Globe says.

So once that last hurdle is surmounted, Henry can look forward to reading about his baseball team’s World Series wins (hopefully) in the pages of his very own newspaper. Must be nice.