Hollinger International executives continue to distance themselves from deposed CEO Conrad Black.
A piece of the company’s strategy to reduce Black’s influence at Hollinger International is to starve Hollinger Inc. of cash, sources familiar with the matter told The Post.
Hollinger Inc. is the Toronto holding company that is Black’s vehicle for controlling Hollinger International.
Black – who needs about $14.3 million a year to service debt at Hollinger Inc. – has relied on management fees from Hollinger International to make interest payments.
This week Hollinger International said it was ending those fees – which reached more than $20 million per year – as of June 2004, and sources now say the company may cut off those fees much sooner. Doing so would give Hollinger International greater leverage over Black and could force him to sell some of his equity to pay down that debt.
Black remains chairman of Hollinger International and is firmly in control of his super voting shares, which account for more than 70 percent of the vote.