Posted on 08/03/2013 3:59:20 AM PDT by John W
BOSTON -- The New York Times Co. says it has agreed to sell The Boston Globe to the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox for $70 million, a massive drop from the record $1.1 billion it paid for it.
Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy confirms the sale of the Globe and other media properties to businessman John Henry.
The Times bought the Globe in 1993. Newspapers have faced difficulties in recent years as advertisers have moved more ads online.
The Times announced in February it was putting the Globe up for sale. The company's CEO said at the time selling the Globe would help the company focus attention on The New York Times brand.
Henry says the Globe's "award-winning journalism" and "its rich history and tradition of excellence" have established it as one of the most well-respected media companies in the country.
I think that in the last 20 years I’ve bought a copy of Pravda On The Charles about a half dozen times.And in the last 5 years I haven’t bought a single copy.At my condo complex (located in a *very* left wing,and reasonably comfortable,town) only *one* unit of the 12 in my building has a newspaper delivered and that unit only gets it on Sunday.
To get the real story, please read the Breitbart report on this fiasco, available here:
Neither the AP report nor the Times’ own report, which is linked at comment no. 16, reveals the following, highly damaging facts that are revealed by Breitbart:
1) as per Breitbart:
“In 2011, the Times turned down a $300 million offer from Aaron Kushner, CEO of Freedom Communications, Inc., publisher of the Orange County Register and other newspapers in California. This offer even included the assumption of pension liabilities, which are currently estimated at $110 million.”
2) Although the Times article, linked at 16, admits that the pension liabilities weren’t assumed in this $70 cash deal, it does NOT state the amount of those liabilities, “which are currently estimated at $110 million.”
3) The Times’ total loss on this transaction is the entire original $1.1 billion it invested plus another $40 million that comes from subtracting the $70 million cash it receives from the $110 million pension liability it remains stuck with.
There ought to be a good shareholders’ derivative suit suit from this against little Pinch and the other management double domes who turned down a $300 million deal that included assumption of the Globe’s pension liabilities.
They really overpaid
I used to love the newspaper medium. As a kid I would compare the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times-Herald and whatever other paper was available.
I haven’t paid for a paper in more than a decade I think.
SO this is really just a $20M deal for the NYT?
They would rather go bankrupt than sell to a conservative
John Henry confirmed that total assets under the firm’s management had fallen from $2.5 billion in 2006 to less than $100 million as of late-2012.
Henry had initially been among a group of partners who had joined in bidding on The Globe properties, but ended up agreeing to acquire them individually. However,The Times story reported him saying: “In coming days there will be announcements concerning those joining me in this community commitment and effort.”
I’m sure both NY Times common stock holders are ecstatic.
That deal makes the NYT look like a big negative net worth...
I was getting my oil changed and picked up a copy of the local paper, I was surprised to see that it was a third less in width and only eight pages of print in big type.
Must have been printed in a cursive font...........say, did you know ‘Damn Yankee’ is supposed to be TWO words?
Wait a couple more years and that will probably top the bids...
The Pontiac Silverdome sat on 127 acres, cost > $1/4 billion (2013 dollars), and sold for just over $1/2 million.
That's funny, I thought you were going to say
"put a quarter or two into the box... and take out a handful of newspapers"
Oh for the days when a newspaper stayed in your yard and the milk bottles stayed on your porch until you fetched them!
“put a quarter or two into the box... and take out a handful of newspapers”
Another reminder of my miss-spent youth. Had a paper route for MANY years. Every so often you would be short. Either a mistake on the company, or another carrier taking some of your papers if they were short.
Would ride the mile on my bike to the corner store, and drop in a quarter and take however many I was short. Then submit my paperwork that I had to go out and “buy” four newspapers so they could repay me! Although I seem to recall in my later years that I figured out the paperwork wasn’t worth it.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
"The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation protects the retirement incomes of more than 44 million American workers. Find out more about us, including how we're governed, how we're organized, and the customers we serve."
Your link notes that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation does not insure state, county or local plans, i.e. Detroit.
"Under Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) administers two very different pension insurance programs—one covers single-employer plans and the other covers multiemployer plans. These programs are separately funded and maintained."
Check out their data books to see how union companies and national unions have tanked the security of their workers: Pension Insurance Data Books
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