John Henry, the Red Sox billionaire owner, might be bargain shopping again.

The Boston Business Journal reports that this Saturday, Oct. 19, Henry will purchase the Boston Globe and parent company, New England Media Group, from The New York Times Co.

Henry’s $70 million bid was accepted by The NYT Co. on Aug. 2.

Sources close to the deal told the BBJ that Henry may end up spending less than the price of the accepted bid. Reportedly, the sale price is “likely” to be around $65 million. The final price will “reflect the recent defection of a majority of the Globe’s auto-classifeid sales team to Cars.com which this month terminated its partnership with the local newspaper company.”

The partnership between the Globe and Cars.com accounted for close to 25 percent — about $44 million — of NEMG’s 2012 online revenue. The newspaper had sold online advertising around Cars.com’s listings for the Boston area since the 1990s.

Henry, the NYT and NEMG have yet to comment on the sale.

The original sale was scheduled to close Oct. 15, but was delayed due NEMG payroll considerations. Since the holiday and advertising period between November and December is responsible for a considerable portion of NEMG’s revenue, Henry’s camp is hopeful that that the sale will get done this month. Further potential delays could cost Henry more money than expected because he would be forced to cover NEMG’s operations during the first quarter, when its business is typically in decline.

NEMG’s revenue is expected to fall 18 percent –about $77 million — from $440.6 million in 2009, to $363.8 million in 2014.

Well, Henry is definitely a #Maxxinista, isn’t he? Seriously, in August 2012, when the Sox made that epic deal with the Dodgers, the organization unloaded:

• Adrian Gonzalez’s seven-year, $154 million contract;
• Carl Crawford’s seven-year, $142 million contract;
• Josh Beckett’s four-year, $68 million extension; and
• Trace amounts of Nick Punto’s net worth

That’s a savings of $364 million!

In 1993, The NYT Co. bought the Globe for $1.1 billion, before selling it to Henry for what could be less than $70 million — about 95 percent less than its original value.

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