John Henry Finally Visited Worcester … to Tell Them He’s Selling

The Red Sox owner confirmed rumors that he is looking to unload the Telegram & Gazette on a local owner.

Local lawmakers, columnists, nervous staffers all hoped their new owner John Henry would visit the newspaper he purchased alongside the Boston Globe, and at last the has… to announce that he will be selling the business.

According to a report on the Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s own website, Henry visited the newsroom to confirm the rumor he is putting the paper up for sale, preferably to a local owner.

The news isn’t particularly surprising. Henry got the T&G along with the Boston Globe when he purchased the New England Media Group from the New York Times Co. But whereas he’s made many visits to the Globe offices, and penned a long column to readers in that paper, he hadn’t yet been out to Worcester to kick the tires on his other purchase. “I need to apologize for waiting this long,” he reportedly told the Worcester newsroom today.

So with that little speculation-game solved, we can now turn to wondering who will buy the paper. The Telegram & Gazette mentions Ralph D. Crowley Jr., chief executive of Polar Beverages, who tried to buy the paper in 2009. And even before the sale was confirmed, people mentioned Gatehouse Media Inc., a New York state based company that owns several dailies and weeklies in Massachusetts. Let the bidding begin.