James Dolan, who heads Madison Square Garden Co. and Cablevision, is looking into the possibility of buying the New York Daily News,
the New York Post reports as owner Mort Zuckerman huddles with bankers on a sale.
Dolan's company already owns Newsday, but the impetus for a possible purchase may be an ongoing feud which began in 2005, the Post said.
Dolan, as Cablevision's CEO, spoke out against a previous plan supported by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to build a West Side Stadium, a sports venue which he said competed with Madison Square Garden.
In 2012, the Post noted, Dolan, in a statement, accused the News of smearing him when he refused to merge operations and printing presses with Newsday.
He wrote: "Mr. Zuckerman has engaged in a campaign of intimidation and extortion to effect a merger between Newsday and the Daily News . . . This proposal was rejected multiple times… At a Four Seasons lunch meeting on March 6, Mr. Zuckerman once again made his proposal, this time adding that 'the bad press would end if we became joint owners’ (a direct quote)."
Later, the News published a full-page photo of Dolan amid a skull-and-crossbones graphic. The word "toxic" was included, the Post noted.
Dolan was not the only person interested in the purchase of the Daily News,
the Post noted, adding interest also coming from TD Ameritrade founders, the Ricketts family, New York Observer owner and real-estate developer Jared Kushner, Pensky Media Corp. CEO Jay Penske as well as Bloomberg and billionaire Ron Burkle.
New York magazine outlined in a profile a power struggle over their corporate business concerns with Dolan and his father.
"It has been a decade since Jim Dolan was installed by his father as the CEO of Cablevision. Though the stock is publicly traded, the Dolan family exerts control through a special class of shares, and until recently tended to do as it pleased. The Dolan family holds $1.5 billion of Cablevision stock; according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, over the past 14 months, Jim has taken home a salary and bonus totaling $9.5 million, while his father has made $6.8 million."
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