Tom Oliphant: NY Times' Trouble Like Ford's

NewsMax.Com ^ | 01/24/2006 | Carl Limbacher

[SirLinksalot]

Tom Oliphant: NY Times' Trouble Like Ford's

Longtime Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant announced Tuesday morning that he was accepting a buyout package from the Globe's parent company, the New York Times - explaining that newspaper industry layoffs are not unlike what's happening at the embattled Ford Motor Company.

"The Ford situation is not unlike the newspaper situation," Oliphant told radio host Don Imus. "The problem, apparently, is not that these companies aren't making money. They make a lot of money. It's that in the view of Wall Street they don't make enough money."

Ford shocked the business world on Monday by announcing that it was laying off 30,000 employees in North America.

Oliphant said that while the bottom line trouble at the Times "isn't as bad as Ford . . . it's part of what's sort of going on more broadly in America right now. And that is - eating the seed corn. There are a lot of companies that are under cost pressures."

As for his own situation, Oliphant said that the Times "put this gigantic pot of money on the table last month . . . I guess one way to have higher profit margins is to try to figure out a way to bribe old people like me into taking a walk."

He said there were "about 150 or so" people at the Times and Globe who accepted buyout packages.

[martin_fierro]

NYT: "Any point of view -- so long as it's Liberal."

[abb]

Broadcast networks shrinking....
NYT earnings decline...
Now this...
So much good news in one day...

I may take the afternoon off and go fishing...

[MNJohnnie]

No, what is happening is changing technology is making the car making industry need fewer workers to produce the same amount of cares while the Junk Journalism industry is failing due to a complete inability to evolve ideologically. It is TECHNOLOGY that is causing the layoffs.

[Plutarch]

Don't worry Tom, what with your devoted following and renown as a writer and thinker, you'll make more money on your own (heh, heh).

[syriacus]

Sounds like Oliphant is making excuses as he abandons a sinking ship.

Not everyone accepts a buyout package, when it is offered to them.

[theDentist]

"Go tell his Publisher
Go tell his Editor
Go tell the Reporters
The Old Gray Lady's dead."

[Plutarch]

Does that Model T represent an antiquated product of the Ford Motor Company, or a car that can be any color you want, so long as its black?

[dighton]

As for his own situation, Oliphant said that the Times "put this gigantic pot of money on the table last month . . . I guess one way to have higher profit margins is to try to figure out a way to bribe old people like me into taking a walk."

Keyword Bow Tie Daddy, from the album “We’re Only in it For the Money.”

[martin_fierro]

Yes.

< |:)~

[Felis_irritable]

From Bloomberg:

"The plan follows 10 straight years of U.S. market-share losses for Ford Motor. Most of that share has been taken by Asian competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. Ford has lost money in its North American automotive business for four of the past five quarters, and its U.S. sales have dropped by more than 1 million units annually since 1999."

Yeah, Ford'd doing fine.

[RexBeach]

Yeah, "they" make a lot of money, before "they" have to pay salaries and pensions the likes of which no other union in America sees.

As usual, Oliphant, misses the point 'cause he's a card-carrying pussy, and here it is: Auto workers are loyal to the UAW - not their companies. And the auto companies are dumb enough to allow themselves to get pushed around by a bunch of UAW pinheads.

Accordingly, Wall Street is quite right to downgrade US auto stocks. Given their overhead expenses, why should anyone buy those stocks?

[LdSentinal]

Oliphant is gone? This week keeps getting better and better.

[facedown]

"The problem, apparently, is not that these companies aren't making money. They make a lot of money. It's that in the view of Wall Street they don't make enough money."

One wouldn't even know where to begin with this ignorance.

[Common Tator]

Sounds like Oliphant is making excuses as he abandons a sinking ship.

Nah!! the management is just kicking the less valuable rats off the ship. Oliphant can be described as high pay and few readers... He did not chose to quit.. he was told to quit.

He can now spend all his time writing books that don't sell.

[RJL]

Oliphant said that while the bottom line trouble at the Times "isn't as bad as Ford . . . it's part of what's sort of going on more broadly in America right now. And that is - eating the seed corn. There are a lot of companies that are under cost pressures."

Tommy, this isn't new, companies are under cost pressures every minute of every day. I guess being in the alternate universe at the NYT you missed this.

[tflabo]

Mmmmmm NYT...experts at sowing damaging words = diminishing incoming profits. Just the physics of KARMA at work.

So much for smartie pants, bow tie liberal Ollie to the rescue ay? Bye Bye smarmy weasel journo lib.

[Obadiah]

Funny - but not surprising - how the main point is completely lost on Oliphant. There is no doubt that it is Oliphant himself who has contributed to the decline of the Boston Glob and the NY Times bottom line. It's not surprising that this bow tie liberal is completely clueless that the problem could be the material HE is trying to peddle to an America no longer willing to buy his leftist trash. The MSM as an information monopoly is dead, and yet Oliphant and Co. are still trying to peddle their liberal lies.

At least Ford and GM recognize that they need to address consumer demands. Apparently not so with Oliphant and ilk.

[rod1]

I can only assumeTom Oliphant was likening himself to an Edsel. If so it may be the first time he actually stumbled into reality.

[Eva]

Knight-Ridder has also announced staff reductions.