In 2013, John W. Henry bought the Boston Globe for $70 million. The New York Times had purchased that same paper back in 1993 for $1.1 billion. That gap isn’t a typo — it’s a snapshot of how dramatically the media business collapsed, and the opening through which a Major League Baseball owner walked right into the newsroom that covers his team.
The Man Behind the Deal
Henry is the chairman of Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the company that has controlled the Boston Red Sox since 2002. Over the years, FSG expanded well beyond baseball, picking up stakes in the Liverpool FC in England, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, and other sports properties. Each investment tells its own story about how money moves through professional sports.
The Globe acquisition came at a vulnerable moment for the paper. Advertising revenue and circulation were both in decline, and the Times was eager to unload it — at a historic discount. Henry kept the Globe running, though not without friction between its editorial coverage and his considerable sports interests in the same city.
LeBron James Joins the Group
In 2021, LeBron James became a partner in Fenway Sports Group. He’s not a direct owner of the Red Sox, but his equity stake in FSG makes him an indirect co-owner of both the club and Liverpool. It was a signal moment: an active professional athlete investing in traditional sports franchises, diversifying his wealth into structures that will outlast his playing career.
For FSG, LeBron brought his network and renewed visibility. For LeBron, he gained access to an already-established sports business empire. The arrangement worked for both sides.
Selling the Penguins
In December 2025, FSG sold the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Hoffmann family for approximately $1.7 billion. With that transaction, the group exited professional hockey after years in the NHL. It wasn’t a retreat so much as a repositioning — FSG decided hockey wasn’t where it wanted to concentrate resources going forward.
Those $1.7 billion return to the group to reinvest, pay down debt, or distribute among partners — LeBron James included.
Why This Still Matters in 2026
The ownership structure around the Red Sox keeps raising a legitimate question: what happens when the person who owns the team also owns the paper that covers it? It’s a question bigger than baseball. It touches corporate governance, conflicts of interest, and how power gets reported on when that power is concentrated in the same hands.
Henry has maintained the Globe as a editorially separate operation, with its own leadership and coverage policies. But the structure itself doesn’t go away because of good intentions. The owner of the Boston Red Sox is still the owner of Boston’s major daily newspaper.
Meanwhile, Fenway Sports Group remains one of the largest sports conglomerates in the world — holding the Red Sox and Liverpool, having exited hockey, and continuing to redefine what a modern sports ownership group looks like. LeBron James remains part of that equation, building wealth through structures designed to outlast any playing career.
- $70 million — what Henry paid for the Boston Globe in 2013
- $1.1 billion — what the New York Times paid for it in 1993
- $1.7 billion — FSG’s sale price for the Pittsburgh Penguins in December 2025
