Posted on 11/03/2006 4:04:52 PM PST by abb
Nov. 3, 2006 - Take a look at the newspaper business these days, and you’d think it’s headed for the trash heap. Stock prices are in the tank. Staffs are being slashed. Circulation is plummeting: just this week, the newspaper industry reported that the average daily circulation of 770 newspapers across the country fell 2.8 percent for the six months ended Sept. 30—one of the steepest drops for any comparable period in the last 15 years. Almost every major newspaper in the country lost readers, among them the Los Angeles Times, which reported a wrenching 8 percent drop in weekday circulation for the period. Several media companies, among them L.A. Times-owner Tribune Co. and Copley Press Inc. in San Diego, are looking to sell off some of their holdings.
But why would anyone want to buy them? The answer is simple: Old Media isn’t a dinosaur yet. In fact, there’s big money to be made before the asteroid hits. Why else would savvy businessmen like General Electric's former chairman Jack Welch and entertainment mogul David Geffen be kicking the tires of, respectively, The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times? While this week’s numbers, compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, may have spooked some, the reality is that newspaper profitability remains high. Cash-flow margins—a good measure of the self-financing capabilities and profitability of a business—are still high. The New York Times Co., which posted a 3.5 percent slump in circulation, had a 15 percent margin last year, according to JPMorgan Chase; The Tribune Co., which owns the L.A. Times, had 20 percent across its various papers, and Knight Ridder, which was sold to McClatchy Co. earlier this year, had a 2005 margin of 19.9 percent. Those margins are higher than those of many big Fortune 500 firms, including IBM.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
"There was a land of Publishers and Editors called the Newspaper Business... Here in this pretty world Journalism took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Reporters and their Enablers, of Anonymous Sources and of Stringers... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization Gone With the Wind..."
With apologies to Margaret Mitchell...
Ping
I love to read a newspaper in the morning.
Newspapers contain second rate coverage a day or so after better stuff appears on the IT.
News mags like Newsweek are even worse.
Selling my crap at a garage sale results in a very high profit margin. By Newsweak's logic I should list myself (or my crap) on the stock market.
If the media really believed that, they wouldn't have gone out of their way to insult over half of their potential customer base.
Last straw for me was 10 years ago... Was ahead of the curver.
I have a bird cage.......
What's a newspaper?
Kitty litter box ....
Sacramento Bee drips with so much c**P that it's useless as fireplace starter.
I use to, but they took that away from me also.
We still have a subscription to the local newspaper at my house (Sunday only) for the sales papers and coupons. After we have collected all sales papers and coupons, the rest goes into the trash (the coupons alone more than pay for the Sunday only subscription).
I have not read a newspaper in over 10 years; get all my news from cable news programs (FOX) and the Internet. I find that I’m more informed than those that do read the paper daily.
I only use the morning newspaper for three things:
1. Crossword puzzles.
2. Five-day weather forecast.
3. Sports section TV listings.
The Minneapolis Red Star Tribune comes home for free in my son's backpack every Monday. His teacher says they're providing it to encourage children to read.
My first inclination was to tell her to stop sending it home with him. Then I thought the better of it. I always need more supplies for paper mache' projects, plus as others have said, newspaper is great for cleaning windows.
No one in our household bothers to read it. I haven't paid for that paper since x42 was impeached and the Strib supported SlickWilly. If they want to give their profits away, fine with me.
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