I couldn’t help noticing this photo when it appeared in my Facebook feed.

It’s a photo of the Denver Post newsroom back in 2013. Not that long ago. The figures in black are journalists who have been cut since Alden Global Capital, which now owns the Post, started buying up newspapers. It’s Digital First Media is now the second largest newspaper chain in the U.S.

Click on the photo for more on the situation at the Denver Post.

Some people refer to its business as “strip mining” journalism, sucking out profits as long as they are available, cutting to the bone, and then finally selling off or shutting down the remnants.

A decade ago, the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain Daily News were in a joint operating agreement similar to the old Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and employed a combined 450 journalists. The Daily News closed in 2009. And after the latest round of cuts, announced in mid-March, it appears the Post will be down to under 70 in its newsroom.

Here’s a good story from the Columbia Journalism Review about the reporter who has been digging into Alden and Digital Media First with probing stories for several years.

Now one of Alden’s business partners has filed suit, alleging the hedge fund siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars which it then used for numerous investments having nothing at all to do with the news business.

This lawsuit provides a so-far unique look inside the finances of these speculative newspaper takeovers.

You can read the legal complaint here.