Posted on 05/25/2021 7:10:56 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
In an interview last year, Mr. Freeman argued that the austere cuts enacted at his newspapers reflected a more realistic understanding of the industry’s direction and better positioned Alden-owned publishers for the pandemic’s downswing. “We were prepared for a real step down in terms of a recession because we were honest about what was needed in the future,” he said. “Numbers don’t lie.”
The newspaper industry’s numbers looked bleak even before the pandemic. Annual advertising revenue dropped 70%, or $34 billion, between 2005 and 2018, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center. More than 1,800 newspapers closed between 2004 and 2018, according to research by the University of North Carolina.
Between 2008 and 2019, the newspaper industry shed 51% of its newsroom jobs, ... Alden’s chain of papers cut staff by 76% at its 11 unionized papers between 2012 and last year
“That would be the industrial logic behind the deal,” ... “Alden’s strategy has always been to take the money out of these businesses.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The old pump and dump was illegal; now new and improved.
Pump the Tribune overflowing with debt, then dump the dead shell. All for a modest service fee.
"But Alden has imposed draconian staff cuts that decimated the Denver Post and other once-proud newspapers that have been vital to their communities and to American democracy."
Too bad so sad.
Schadenfreude, here:
Chicago Tribune staff fear ‘avaricious destruction’ by hedge fund owners
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/21/chicago-tribune-staff-hedge-fund-owners-alden
The Denver Post is “vital?”
A few weeks back, my wife and I bought the local city Sunday newspaper for the first time in several years. We never read the Sunday paper, but we used to get it for the sale inserts.
We paid several dollars for it and it had no inserts. We checked the others in the stack and none had any.
Even stores now realize no one buys the newspaper.
The leftist Lunatics at the Tribune are losing their minds! They will no longer get paid to spill their communist slanted “news” under the cover of The Chicago Tribune on a daily basis.
Is the new plan to carve out a niche as a left wing voice? s/
There is little, if any growth potential in newspapers, in my opinion. Except for certain small markets, the entire industry seems antiquated and to be quickly shriveling.
I still miss my physical paper, but have gotten used to coming to the internet, where a bumper crop of info can be harvested at any moment. Physical papers have shrunken dramatically, skimpy, non-serious products of less money being invested in them. This guy, Freeman, may see it differently. Well, he is the millionaire, while I’m not.
—”The leftist Lunatics at the Tribune are losing their minds! “
My bunker is only 30 short klicks west of Chiraq and once a long-term Trib subscriber; they lost their minds long ago.
When Sam Zell extracted some blood, they lost their heads.
This event will make the Zell takeover look like a playground tiff.
Hard for us nonsubscribers to WSJ to tell what it says.
It’s possible that the inserts were simply never inserted. This happens all the time. The inserter may malfunction, the person running it may have been slow to refill the hopper, or the driver may have neglected to leave the necessary bundles. Or someone at the retail outlet may have swiped the inserts for the coupons. You never know.
—”I still miss my physical paper,”
Almost forever my employer paid for my subscriptions, now retired, I put out only for the WSJ $$$ because I enjoy standing reading the paper with coffee. (I used a standing desk for years.)
—”There is little, if any growth potential in newspapers, in my opinion.”
Freeman sees the underlying assets that he can use as collateral or sell outright. Either way converts them to cash in HIS bank account.
This is what Freeman sees:
https://tribunetower.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwwLKFBhDPARIsAPzPi-KFvjJDxW8rI7l4HuZ17Qaa-SKijK1DpPlHEUaWFI2pF9zlxEFJetIaAoZ2EALw_wcB
He missed this one but there are more to be had.
Yes, the Trib Tower went condo $$$
And it is a thing of beauty.
—”for us nonsubscribers to WSJ...”
Not to worry there Bigbob!
Pls see #5
Just maybe, if newspapers printed objective news instead of jamming Marxism down people’s throats, people would read them. When people read them, companies buy advertising, and newspapers are profitable.
bias=layoffs
He also put up a world class military museum in one of the Chicago suburbs. I'm trying to remember the name of the town, but it was clear the owner-founder loved America and had a deep respect for what it took to build and preserve this country.
Sadly, the same rot is creeping in to our hometown newspaper, the Tribune-Review ever since the founder Richard Mellon Scaife passed.
Oh gosh, what will this mean for journalistic ethics?!?
Worse than I thought...
Couldn't agree more! When your "product" is sure to alienate 50%+ of it's potential consumers, you have an uphill climb if you're trying to be profitable. You better have either a monopoly over a huge market, or you should leave running a business to a business-person. These newspaper conglomerates think their mission is to promote one ideology, while eviscerating any alternates. If I were a shareholder, I'd sue the board and management for failing in their fiduciary responsibilities to do what is best for the shareholders.
I know many on this forum have no love for the newspaper industry and frankly, I do not blame you. Because the writing is so biased, I can barely read the product I produce. The last year has been nothing but endless stories about COVID, racism, white supremacy, and telling their own "big lie" about what they call the "big lie": believing the 2020 election was stolen. I tell my wife that if I had an ounce of integrity, I would resign tomorrow and tell the publisher why. But, I've been there twenty-two years and I rationalize my employment by telling myself that as a printing professional, it's my job to produce a good-looking product. My benefits are outstanding and I have great flexibility. Besides - in all honesty, I need the money.
I knew this day was coming years ago: I have been attending school in the pursuit of an accounting degree and I am more than halfway there. Since Alden announced their intent to purchase Tribune, I have heard the whinging and whining from the newsroom and their union representation. These self-important "journalists" believe their "mission" and "craft" is somehow not subject to the law of economics and finance; it's the same song they sang when Sam Zell took over. They forget that advertising revenue has plummeted since 2005, and that revenue was what allowed them their "mission". As far as I am concerned, they can "learn to code."
My future with Tribune is tenuous; however, I cannot and will not worry about it: I will continue to strive to be the best at what I do and leave the rest in God's hands.
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