Report: 2 Preliminary Bids Placed For Boston Globe

BOSTON — The Boston Globe is reporting that two Boston groups have submitted preliminary bids to buy the newspaper.

Citing unnamed people with knowledge of the offers, the Globe reported Friday that the bids were submitted Thursday, meeting a deadline set by its owner, The New York Times Co.

According to the Globe, one of the offers comes from a group led by Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca and former advertising mogul Jack Connors. The other is headed by Stephen Taylor, a former Globe executive and member of the family that sold the Globe to the Times for $1.1 billion in 1993.

The Globe said the group led by Pagliuca and Connors suggests a “civic approach” that calls for a nonprofit foundation to help fund and run the Globe. The proposed economic model would aim to support the newspaper’s journalism and undercut pressure to post large profits.

The Globe lost $50 million in 2008, and the Times Co. has said it was on track to lose $85 million this year before Globe workers agreed to $20 million in annual cost concessions.

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis declined to comment on Friday’s report. Pagliuca did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment, nor was a message left at a number listed in Taylor’s name.