Two prominent Orange County businessmen have expressed interest in buying The Orange County Register, the longtime, family-owned flagship newspaper of Freedom Communications Inc., according to unnamed 
sources in a media report.
Newport Beach billionaire businessman George Argyros (pictured right) and Lawrence M. Higby (pictured left), chief executive officer of Apria Healthcare Group Inc. in Lake Forest who also is 
a former chairman of the Los Angeles Times Orange County edition, have had what was described as preliminary talks about making a bid for the Register, said the Orange County Business Journal. The newspaper did not identify its source.
Scott Flanders, Freedom’s chief executive officer declined to say whether he had talked to Argyros or Higby but noted that with the financial difficulties facing the company, he is having discussions with a lot of people.
“We don’t comment publicly,” he said. “We are now having conversations with both strategic and non-strategic partners that in the past would have not been possible.”
Register publisher Terry Horne had no comment. Argyros and Higby were out of the country and could not be reached.
A possible bid for the Register would come as newspapers across the country have fallen on hard times. The challenges include a continuing decline in circulation, a major loss of help wanted and real estate advertising, skyrocketing newsprint prices and increased competition from the Internet and other media.
In response,the Register has gone through three rounds of layoffs in the last year, reduced the width of the newspaper,cut back on pages,moved Marketplace into the main news section six days a week and eliminated other standalone sections like Business Monday.
The paper also has nearly doubled the size of its interactive business and increased revenue through geographically zoning its local advertising.
If a deal with Argyros and Higby or anyone else were to transpire, it would end ownership of the Register by the descendents of Raymond Cyrus “R.C.” Hoiles, who bought the newspaper in 1935 as an editorial vehicle for his libertarian philosophy and made it the cornerstone of a nationwide media company.
A sale also would mean a significant change to Irvine-based Freedom, which survived an internal family feud in 2003 when dissident shareholders, unhappy with the company’s financial performance, pushed for a sale. A compromise was struck the following year when two private equity firms, the Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners, bought a minority stake in the company allowing the unhappy family members to cash out their shares but keeping the organization in family hands.
It is unclear what, if any, plans Argyros and Higby have in mind for the Register. The two, both Newport Beach residents, are major Orange County movers and shakers, active in both the business community and Republican politics. They are both founding members of The New Majority, a group of Republicans pushing for a more diverse and socially moderate party.
Argyros, 71, built his fortune developing apartments and commercial real estate. Last year, he was named by Forbes as the 271st richest American. He once owned the Seattle Mariner’s baseball team and co-owned with Ret. Air Force Gen. William Lyon AirCal, a West Coast regional airline that later merged with American Airlines.
Local residents may remember Argyros best for his concerted but failed effort to convert the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to an international airport. Most recently, he served from 2001 to 2004 as President George W. Bush’s U.S. Ambassador to Spain. A graduate of Chapman University, he also has been a major fundraiser and driver behind that school’s development and expansion.
Higby, 63, held several positions at the Los Angeles Times from 1986 to 1994, including executive vice president of marketing and chairman of the Orange County edition. He also worked at Unocal Corp. and was a chief aide to H.R. Haldeman during the Nixon administration.
He joined Apria in 1997, when Argyros was a major shareholder. He was promoted from president and chief operating officer to CEO in 2002. This summer Apria announced it had accepted a $1.6 billion buyout offer from the Blackstone Group, the same private equity firm that bought a minority stake in Freedom Communications. In 2006, Higby was elected to the board of Newport Beach-based homebuilder William Lyon Homes, led by Argyros’ former AirCal partner. Higby has since left the Lyon board.
In other Register news…
- O.C. Register considers tabloid format
- More changes coming to the Register
- Where’s my Marketplace section?
- Register seeks to trim costs through layoffs
- OC Post to combine with Irvine World News
Maybe the buyer will have the common sense to do away with the ridiculous “community” comment boards…this one included!
What a great move if this comes to be. Freedom and Terry Horne have run the Register into the ground with all the cutbacks. I’m sure these two businessmen will want to restore the separate Business section. Without the greedy New York investors who own half of Freedom, and a CEO who doesn’t care about newspapers, readers of the Register will be far better off under local ownership — as was the case when the Hoiles family controlled the Register.
Hey person…. thats the only thing worth reading in this paper if they do away with it the few readers they have left will leave to.
Who wants to buy a newspaper these days, and why? You can’t turn a donkey into a race horse.
Secondly, I love posting comments on this newspaper website - isn’t that what true freedom is all about?
i think the fact that they post this just means their advisors have already looked over the offer but dont think its enough. so you ptu in yoru blog to:
A) get user feedback <-ya right…
B) beef up the hype to give a higher counter-offer <- real reason
hopefully someone does buy it so they can ease up on the ads -especially in their video section, the damn intro commercials can 2 minutes long
Maybe the paper will report correctly and present financial data correctly when it comes to the Scouts and the Sheriffs Union.
Good. Maybe they will get some literate people writing articles again.
Anyone else notice all of the bad grammar and mis-spelling lately?
I agree, we wouldn’t be able to comment on what is going on and God knows a lot of us do and there is nothing wrong with that. We need to be able to say what we feel.
Freedom of speech ya know.
Interesting.
I wonder if they are going to make it what it used to be?
Scott Flanders: “We don’t comment publicly”
” Register publisher Terry Horne had no comment”
Looks like the shoes on the other foot huh boys?
“We don’t comment publicly”
” Register publisher Terry Horne had no comment”
Looks like the shoe is on the other foot huh boys?
I just hope they hire some college grads (English majors) to edit. The writing is so poor. On the other hand, I see editing mistakes on the major news channels on tv all the time. I think the days of competency in the English language are a thing of the past……….sad. I am torn between the comments of both Tracy and 1person.
Great news, now they can hire some good managers, and get rid of these high priced HR personal and Managers who can’t maintain a true budget.
I agree with John. However Terry Horne is not really to blame as he is just the interim puppet. It is true that current management isn’t even close to being qualified to run a high school gazette let alone the OCR, however the true responsibility of running the OCR into the ground belongs to the amazing dynamic duo of Chris Anderson and Debbie Holzkamp. Perhaps if they would have tried to find creative ways to save and invest the OCR’s money wisely instead of foolishly spending it on expensive half cocked brainstorms like the OC Post, the OCR would not be in this devastating financial position. It is sad because the OCR used to be a premier newspaper and now it is just another rag that is hanging by a thread waiting to be disolved.
It is unfair to blame to blame Terry Horne for driving the OCR into the ground. It is true that the current management is not qualified to run a high school gazette let alone the OCR, however the people directly responsible for destroying the financial stability of the OCR are Chris Anderson and Debbie Holzkamp. Perhaps if they had tried to find creative ways to save and invest the OCR’s money instead of frivolously squandering it on half cocked ideas like the OC Post, the OCR would not be in the position it is in today. And instead of having 3 waves of employee layoffs and letting quality revenue producing people go, they should have gotten rid of the overpaid and underworked managers that spend the OCR’s money as if it was their own on their lunches, golf outings, and personal time during business trips.