NewsCorp is owned by Rupert Murdoch right? If so, this is good news!
What on the balance sheet of such a publication could possibly be worth half a billion?
Reporters are now commodities.
Distribution is a commodity.
Newsprint is optional due to the Web.
Advertisers are moving buys online.
Classifieds are hugely moving online.
Readership is down.
This is horizontal monopolization, not cost-saving vertical integration.
YOU GO, RUPERT!!!!!!
Sounds to me like News Corp. overpaid for this liberal rag. At least now they will likely move the editorial policy to the middle and improve on a lousy paper. Next stop is the NY Slimes. News Corp. could do wonders with what is currently a treasonous way left rag and making it a world class paper rather than the fish wrap it is.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-bznews0422,0,3020603.story
Murdoch, Newsday close to deal
BY ELLEN YAN
12:32 AM EDT, April 22, 2008
Newsday’s parent company is near an agreement to sell the Long Island paper to New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch for $580 million, according to a source familiar with the negotiations and to a published report.
Details on a cash deal between the Tribune Co. and Murdoch’s News Corp. won’t be final for another three or four weeks, the source said. A possible agreement was also reported last night by The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp. as well.
The Journal reported that the “price structure and governance” have been agreed upon informally and that the Post and Newsday would be separate papers. It also stressed that the sides were hammering out final details and that the deal could still fall apart.
According to The Journal, Tribune would keep a stake of less than 5%.
The development follows a Thursday phone conference in which Tribune chief Sam Zell told lenders and investors that bids for Newsday were being considered but that no decision had been made.
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