As we stand on the edge (beginning? bottom?) of the greatest depression since 1930, the newspaper industry is uniquely positioned to be one of the biggest calamities. Newspapers are literally dying out – they neither have past employees as Fed overseers nor it seems private jets to fly them to grovel in front of congress. Here are some snippets -
- Tribune Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. I agree somewhat with Forbes that this is mostly Sam Zell negotiating tactics. Tribune Co have already sold a stake in Newsday for $650 million. They have also been looking to sell off the Chicago Cubs (3 companies are reportedly already in the running for the second round of negotiations; also the Cubs are not part of the Ch 11 bankruptcy filing).
- The NY Times Company is going to borrow over 200 million against its HeadQuarters building to pay off part of its loans.
- Many more newspaper groups are in trouble – McClatchy, Lee Enterprises, Journal-Register, and MediaNews Group.
- Here’s a great article on the actual figures behind the decline of newspapers – both classifieds (due to craigslist + the economy) and advertising (economy and online ad growth) have been contributing less and less to the bottom line of newspaper companies.
- Rocky Mountain News is potentially on sale – might already be sold.
- The NY Times reports that the McClatchy group’s Miami Herald might be up for sale.
- A new study says that several US cities will be left without newspapers by 2010.
The irony of newspapers reporting the death of newspapers isn’t lost on me.
Filed under: Greater Depression | Tagged: newspapers are dying
