Posted on 02/24/2009 4:50:24 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Hearst to Slash, Sell or Close the Chronicle
By SHIRA OVIDE
Hearst Corp. said it may close its San Francisco Chronicle newspaper unless it can quickly slash costs at the money-losing daily.
A vendor sells a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle at his newsstand in the San Francisco Municipal Railway station. Getty Images
A vendor sells a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle at his newsstand in the San Francisco Municipal Railway station. A vendor sells a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle at his newsstand in the San Francisco Municipal Railway station. A vendor sells a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle at his newsstand in the San Francisco Municipal Railway station.
Hearst said it will seek "critical cost-saving measures," including a steep reduction in the Chronicle work force. If it can't reach its cost-saving target "within weeks," it will seek a buyer for the newspaper, Hearst said. And if it can't find a buyer -- at a time when few investors are shelling out money for big newspapers -- it will close the paper.
The possible closure of the Chronicle, the 12th-largest daily in the country and Northern California's largest daily paper, illustrates the quickening pace of decline in the newspaper industry. Advertising revenue is falling even more quickly than publishers can slash staff, stock dividends and other costs. Two newspaper publishers filled for bankruptcy protection last weekend, and few metropolitan dailies are on a healthy footing.
Observers have been waiting to see which major U.S. city will be the first to be without a daily newspaper, and San Francisco isn't a surprising front-runner for the role. Unlike many major newspaper chains, Hearst has a healthy balance sheet, but the company said the Chronicle has posted significant losses since 2001, including a $50 million loss last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
It should be slashed. At least that is what the birds think.
Good! My uncle owns the Examiner so this will be good for him.
Lets see, checking to see if I’m disappointed.
Nope.
What? No more gay rants from whatshisname?
But, what will the fish do without their wraps?
Just think if this rag goes out of business and the media news collection as well than the only newspaper left in the Bay area will be the San Fran examiner a conservative paper. hee hee hee haw haw haw. I wonder if the libs will then demand a fairness doctrine for Bay area papers.
“Hearst said it will seek “critical cost-saving measures,”
Generally in business we try to build a better product to get out of a sales situation.
funny I used to live out there when I was on contract @ Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the mid 80’s (lived in Napa - life was tough)......the only thing that was good was Herb Caen’s column (spelling?). That man was a journalist and very funny.....
Hallelujah!!!!
I hope to God this doesn’t mean Mark Morford’s going away!!!!
I have been wondering how they have been holding up in the Bizzaro world of Sodom by the Sea.
I hold out "hope" that the Ex will start fact checking leftie letter writers and print disclaimers below their letters.
Haven’t talked to Anschutz in a while, but 18 months ago, the Examiner was doing quite well (Both SF and Baltimore/DC).
And if they end up the only game in town in SF, he’ll do VERY well.
I have seen a steady improvement in the past 18 months.
Can’t he do all three?
You can’t bring the Chronicle into a home with children, so let it die.
Although I agree that the Chronicle is a commie fishwrap, I’ve been a newspaper addict since I was a little kid 50 years ago and I don’t know what I’ll do if the Chron vanishes. I’m in the South Bay where the San Jose Mercury News is the main paper, and it is ten times worse than the Chron. And the Mercury-News ink comes off the paper onto your hands, besides.
What about the nation’s exotic bird owners?
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