Jack Kent Cooke Is an Old Hand at Running a Newspaper

After nearly 30 years’ absence from the newspaper industry, Jack Kent Cooke made a dramatic re-entry Tuesday with his $176-million purchase of the Daily News in Van Nuys.

Cooke said he intends to bid for more newspaper properties. “This is the first of many,” he said in a telephone interview from his northern Virginia farm.

Cooke is best known as a professional sports enthusiast who owns the Washington Redskins football team and once owned the Lakers basketball and Kings hockey teams in Los Angeles. He built the Forum in 1967 and in 1971 provided financial backing for the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier “Fight of Champions” boxing match, which grossed more than $20 million.

But the 73-year-old businessman also has a respected track record in real estate, cable television and other diverse industries, and his recent investments have been shrewd. Earlier this year, he made a $25-million profit when he sold his holdings in Multimedia Inc., a broadcasting and newspaper company. A 1979 investment in the Manhattan Chrysler Building appears to have quadrupled in value.

Cooke first acquired his wealth through Canadian newspaper and broadcasting ventures, beginning on “the day I met Roy Thomson, in November, 1936.” Thomson’s empire eventually spanned the Atlantic, earning him the title of Lord Thomson of Fleet.

For 13 years, the two men were partners in Thomson Cooke Newspapers Ltd. The partnership ended in 1952, but Cooke ran Toronto’s most successful radio station, CKEY, and a Canadian magazine publishing company until 1961.

Cooke moved to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1960. That same year, he bought a 25% interest in the Washington Redskins for $300,000. Cooke is now the sole owner after buying out his remaining partner earlier this year.

Cooke invested in his first California sports franchise in 1965, at the same time he began building a cable-TV empire. Through a series of mergers, he gained a 12% stake in Teleprompter in 1973. His stake was worth $76 million by the time the company was sold to Westinghouse Electric in 1981.

“He’s extremely bright; he’s usually 10 steps ahead of the average person,” said William J. Bresnan, a cable-TV company executive who spent 16 years working for Cooke.

Impatient but ‘Down-to-Earth’

Cooke is apt to correct someone’s grammar, or test an acquaintance’s knowledge, in a manner that strikes one business colleague as arrogant or overbearing. The colleague spoke only on the condition that he not be identified.

But Bresnan attributes Cooke’s style to impatience, not arrogance. “He’s very down-to-earth. He’ll spend time talking to a gardener,” Bresnan said. Although Cooke does not suffer fools gladly, Bresnan said: “If you judged things (carefully) . . . and it turns out to be a mistake, he’ll stick right with you. . . . He’s very, very loyal. He gives loyalty generously, and demands it.”

Bresnan and other friends say that Cooke appears vigorous and healthy, still riding horses as well as investing in them. He owns Elmendorf Racing & Breeding Farm in Lexington, Ky. Cooke has always had a knack of turning a leisurely pursuit into a profitable business, according to Bresnan, who recalled that, when Cooke lived in Los Angeles, he turned a weekend retreat northeast of Bakersfield into a working ranch.

But the hard-nosed businessman has also made emotional decisions. He sold the ranch, along with his California sports franchises, in 1979 to real estate businessman Jerry Buss after his 42-year marriage ended in divorce. Cooke has told acquaintances privately that he left California because his old haunts reminded him of the failed marriage.

Cooke said that he has probably spent no more than three days in Los Angeles in the past three years but that he intends to re-establish a part-time residence in order to stay in closer contact with the Daily News.

Although Cooke said he wants Daily News Publisher Byron C. Campbell to continue in his post, one business associate described Cooke as “a hands-on person. To assume that he won’t become involved in operations is naive. He will have very good people, but he will keep himself involved.”

Cooke says his son, John Kent Cooke, who manages a number of his properties, is enthusiastic about the Daily News acquisition but will be less involved. “He’s . . . wedded to this area,” Cooke says of the rolling Virginia countryside near Middleburg, where both men have farms.

Cooke says that he is quite serious about acquiring new broadcasting properties, as well as newspapers, and might invest once again in cable TV. Earlier this year, his investment in Multimedia was made as part of a takeover bid in excess of $1 billion. He withdrew only after he became convinced that controlling family members would not relinquish control.

The Redskins owner says he accepted his $25-million profit from Multimedia reluctantly because he detests the idea of being confused with “greenmailers,” or those corporate raiders who sell back their stakes in companies for a premium in exchange for withdrawing their takeover effort. Had his bid prevailed, Cooke says, he would have kept the broadcasting and newspaper company intact.

1951 Cooke buys the class-AAA baseball franchise in Toronto. The following year, The Sporting News names Cooke minor-league executive of the year.

1960 Acquires a 25% interest in the Washington Redskins for $300,000, the first step toward becoming the team’s majority owner nearly a decade later. A native Canadian, he becomes a U.S. citizen by special act of Congress.

1965 Buys the Lakers basketball team for $5.175 million, then an enormous sum.

1966 Obtains new National Hockey League franchise, to be called the Kings, for $2 million. Announces he’ll build the Inglewood Forum, which opens in late 1967.

1971 Pays boxers Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier $2.5 million each while promoting a title match in New York.

1973 Despite a recent heart attack, he embarks on a rescue mission for Teleprompter, a giant but ailing cable television firm in which he had a controlling stake, and becomes its chief executive.

1976 His wife of more than 40 years, Barbara Jean, sues for divorce. He moves to Las Vegas and shuns publicity. A divorce settlement in 1979 evenly splits assets estimated at about $80 million, according to published reports.

1979 Sells Forum, Lakers, the Kings and his 13,000-acre ranch in the Sierra foothills for $67.5 million to real estate tycoon Jerry Buss. Buys the Chrysler Building in New York for $87 million. Also assumes operating control of the Washington Redskins from Edward Bennett Williams.

1980 Marries sculptor Jean Maxwell Williams. They divorce a year later.

1981 Teleprompter Corp., of which Cooke was chairman, is merged with Westinghouse Electric Corp.

1985 Seeks to buy Multimedia Inc. for $1.05 billion, but his offer is rejected and he ultimately sells his stake for $114 million. Acquires remaining 15% of Redskins.

Dec., 1985 Agrees to purchase Daily News of Los Angeles from Tribune Co. for $176 million.