Investments

Equity Method Investments

As of December 30, 2012, our investments in joint ventures consisted of equity ownership interests in the following entities:



Company	Approximate % Ownership
Metro Boston LLC (“Metro Boston”)	49	%
Donohue Malbaie Inc. (“Malbaie”)	49	%
Madison Paper Industries (“Madison”)	40	%
quadrantONE LLC (“quadrantONE”)⁽¹⁾	25	%


(1)	quadrantONE announced in February 2013 that it will begin winding down its current operations. As of December 30, 2012, we had a nominal investment in quadrantONE.

Our investments above are accounted for under the equity method, and are recorded in “Investments in joint ventures” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Our proportionate shares of the operating results of our investments are recorded in “Income from joint ventures” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and in “Investments in joint ventures” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Metro Boston

We own a 49% interest in Metro Boston, which publishes a free daily newspaper in the greater Boston area.

Malbaie & Madison

We also have investments in a Canadian newsprint company, Malbaie, and a partnership operating a supercalendered paper mill in Maine, Madison (together, the “Paper Mills”).

Our Company and UPM-Kymmene Corporation, a Finnish paper manufacturing company, are partners through subsidiary companies in Madison. Our Company’s percentage ownership of Madison, which represents 40%, is through an 80%-owned consolidated subsidiary. UPM-Kymmene owns a 10% interest in Madison through a 20% noncontrolling interest in the consolidated subsidiary of our Company.

We received distributions from Malbaie of $7.3 million in 2012, $0 million in 2011 and $0 million in 2010.

We received distributions from Madison of $2.0 million in 2012, $0 million in 2011 and $5.3 million in 2010.

We purchased newsprint and supercalendered paper from the Paper Mills at competitive prices. Such purchases aggregated approximately $26 million in 2012, $34 million in 2011 and $33 million in 2010.

In 2010, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $12.7 million from the sale of an asset at one of the Paper Mills. Our share of the pre-tax gain, after eliminating the noncontrolling interest portion, was $10.2 million. The $12.7 million gain is included in “Income from joint ventures” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

The following tables present summarized combined information for our Company’s unconsolidated joint ventures. Separate financial statements of these unconsolidated joint ventures are not required, since none of our investments are considered individually significant. The following tables include combined financial information for Fenway Sports Group, which was accounted for under the equity method, until the sale of a portion of our investment interest in February 2012.

Summarized unaudited condensed combined balance sheets of our Company’s unconsolidated joint ventures were as follows as of:



(In thousands)	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Current assets	$	80,496	$	262,203
Non-current assets	79,913		1,405,110
Total assets	160,409		1,667,313
Current liabilities	37,300		551,105
Non-current liabilities	19,332		518,723
Total liabilities	56,632		1,069,828
Equity	103,777		522,930
Noncontrolling interest	—		74,555
Total liabilities and equity	$	160,409	$	1,667,313

Summarized unaudited condensed combined income statements of our Company’s unconsolidated joint ventures were as follows for the years ended:



(In thousands)	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011			December 31, 2010
Revenues	$	291,195	$	1,203,537		$	936,223
Costs and expenses	283,392		1,203,181			850,950
Operating income	7,803		356			85,273
Other income/(expense)	300		(10,014		)	14,724
Pre-tax income/(loss)	8,103		(9,658		)	99,997
Income tax expense/(benefit)	1,334		(25,004		)	(111		)
Net income	6,769		15,346			100,108
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	—		(23,517		)	(23,725		)
Net income/(loss) less noncontrolling interest	$	6,769	$	(8,171	)	$	76,383

Cost Method Investments

Gain on Sale of Investments

We recorded a gain on sale of investments totaling $220.3 million in 2012, $71.2 million in 2011 and $9.1 million in 2010.

Fenway Sports Group

In February 2012, we sold 100 of our units in Fenway Sports Group for an aggregate price of $30.0 million (pre-tax gain of $17.8 million in the first quarter of 2012) and in May 2012, we sold our remaining 210 units for an aggregate price of $63.0 million (pre-tax gain of $37.8 million in the second quarter of 2012). Effective with the February 2012 sale, given our reduced ownership level and lack of influence on the operations of Fenway Sports Group, we changed the accounting for this investment from the equity method to the cost method in the first quarter of 2012. Therefore, starting in February 2012, we no longer recognized our proportionate share of the operating results of Fenway Sports Group in joint venture results in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In July 2011, we sold 390 of our units in Fenway Sports Group for $117.0 million, which resulted in a pre-tax gain of $65.3 million in the third quarter of 2011.

In the second quarter of 2010, we sold 50 of our units in Fenway Sports Group, which resulted in a pre-tax gain of $9.1 million.

Indeed.com

In October 2012, Indeed.com, a search engine for jobs in which we had an ownership interest, was sold. We recorded a pre-tax gain of $164.6 million. The pre-tax proceeds from the sale of our interest were approximately $167 million.

In the first quarter of 2011, we sold a minor portion of our interest in Indeed.com, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $5.9 million.

Impairment of Investments

In 2012, we recorded non-cash impairment charges of $5.5 million to reduce the carrying value of certain investments to fair value. The impairment charges were primarily related to our investment in Ongo Inc., a consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers. See Note 10 for additional information regarding the fair value of these investments.

Available-for-Sale Security

In connection with the initial public offering of Brightcove, Inc. in the first quarter of 2012, changes in the fair value of our investment in Brightcove, Inc. (available-for-sale security) are recognized as unrealized gains or losses within “Miscellaneous assets” and “Accumulated other comprehensive loss” in our Consolidated Balance Sheets and “Unrealized loss on available-for-sale security” in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income/(Loss). As of December 30, 2012, we recognized an unrealized loss of $0.7 million ($0.4 million after-tax). In 2012, we had proceeds from the sale of a portion of our shares in Brightcove, Inc. totaling $2.2 million and recorded a pre-tax gain of $0.4 million. See Note 10 for additional information regarding the fair value of our investment in Brightcove, Inc.