The owner of Boston’s Red Sox just picked up his city’s leading newspaper at a huge discount.

John Henry has agreed to acquire the Boston Globe from the New York Times Company (NYT) for $70 million. The all cash deal, which is expected to close within two months, is $40 million less than the estimated $110 million owed by Globe‘s New England Media Group. It is also 93% less than the $1.1 billion the NYT paid for the newspaper in 1993, Bloomberg notes.

Included in the sale are the Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the Globe‘s website and a minority stake in the Metro Boston website.

Since the NYT purchased it, the Globe‘s circulation has fallen by more than 50%. At the same time, newspapers have seen their advertising sales collapse against rising competition from the Internet.

An NYT executive said the sale would allow the company to concentrate on its core New York Times newspaper brand. The Globe‘s sale had been rumored since late June. The NYT was thought to be looking for about $100 million for the newspaper.

Earlier this month, New York Times‘ statistical genius Nate Silver, who correctly predicted President Obama’s re-election, announced that he was defecting to Disney‘s (DIS) ESPN.

Shares of the New York Times Company fell about 1% in Monday morning trading.