Drew Katz Still Plans to Sell IGM Shares

This just in: Drew Katz still plans to sell his shares of the Inquirer and its sister news organizations to Gerry Lenfest.

If the news has a slight “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” quality to it — Katz originally announced he was selling his ownership stake last week — there is good reason for the update: Reports this week suggested the sale had not closed, which in turn sparked some hopes at the papers that Katz was rethinking the sale and might stay a member of the ownership group after all.

“Our hope is that Drew reconsiders selling his shares to Lenfest,” Bill Ross, director of the Newspaper Guild that represents the papers’ journalists, told BigTrial.net this week. “We’re trying to convince Drew Katz to stay involved here because of his expertise in advertising.” 

Nope.

“The sale to Mr. Lenfest is still going forward and is expected to be completed very soon,” Jay Devine, Drew Katz’s spokesman, said in an email Tuesday afternoon. 

No word on when the deal might be complete.