Chicago-based The Onion has been sold to Univision an entertainment conglomerate based in New York. Chicagoans probably first discovered the Onion back in the 1990’s distributed free near train stations with headlines such as “Oprah fans await further instructions.” Univision now has a forty percent stake with an option to buy the remaining sixty percent. The sale was described as being mutually beneficial; Univision wants to diversify from television to digital content production and distribution while the Onion needs new capital to grow.
This scenario has a familiar ring to it. For decades New York-based conglomerates have been buying Chicago originated companies with the reassurance that they will remain in Chicago with current management and all is well, then, some months later, the company disappears with little notice. That was the occurrance when the New York Times purchased Chicago-based Quadrangle Books. They claimed it would remain in Chicago but two years later, very quietly, it just disappeared with little notice and reappeared as New York Times Books based in New York. This occurrance has been repeated numerous times ultimately to the detriment of Chicago’s cultural economy.
The purported rational for this sale was the need for capital to grow the company. It points to an abiding problem in Chicago that diminishes the overall size of Chicago’s cultural business community: lack of capital and local venture capital businesses. There is a lack of venture capital with the dual purpose of making a profit while growing Chicago’s cultural base. On the contrary, Chicago businesses have a tradition of buying other Chicago companies then moving or destroying them and Univision may be another instance in this tradition. Univision, the company known as the creator of telenovelas for the Spanish-speaking market is no more Spanish than Donald Trump. The company is currently owned by a group of private-equity companies based in Boston, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, Fort Worth, Texas, New York City, Los Angeles, and of course, Chicago. While just a minority investor, Chicago-based Madison-Dearborn Partners is still a part owner.
Thus again Chicago capital may be used to diminish Chicago as an entertainment center of America.
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