Why more newspaper cuts may lie ahead

For all the cost cutting that has traumatized the newspaper industry this year, profitability is falling far faster than sales, suggesting that deeper cuts may be necessary if the industry is to sustain its traditional operating margins.In the first part of the year, revenues have fallen by 9.4% in the newspaper divisions at half a dozen major publicly held companies, according to an analysis of

Correction: Billions, schmillions

“A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you are talking real money,” goes a famous quote attributed to Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen, the late, gravel-voiced Republican leader from Illinois.The quote, which actually may not have been uttered by the great man, came to mind this morning when several sharp-eyed readers noted that I incorrectly stated here the price paid for the Minneapolis

Perilously funded papers hit the wall

The most precariously financed newspaper deals apparently are starting to hit the wall, wiping out equity investors and causing at least some lenders to try to sell their loans at distressed prices.The lenders who provided the bonds for the $530 million purchase of the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2006 have hired an investment bank to try to sell the loans at heavy discounts to either local

Why publicize newspaper job cuts?

A hundred chairs plastered with pink slips were set up in front of the Baltimore Sun today as the centerpiece of a protest against the latest staff cuts at the paper. It was a clever bit of street theater. But was it a good idea?I am as angry as anyone about what is happening at the Tribune Co. (and elsewhere) and I am as sympathetic as can be toward the people who are losing their jobs. But I

‘Private’ time for GCI, LEE, MNI and NYT?

The shares of Gannett, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy and New York Times Co. have fallen so low that the companies have become candidates for transactions that could convert them to private ownership.The companies could do it themselves, do it in partnership with private-equity funds — or potentially face unwanted takeovers from investors attracted by the bargain prices of their stock.A public

Just $3.6B: Total value of 10 news stocks

In a historic rout, newspaper shares have lost nearly $4 billion in value in the first 10 trading days of July, an amount greater than the combined market capitalization of all but the three largest publicly held publishing companies.The $3.9 billion plunge in the value of newspaper stocks since the first of this month – a period marked by successive new lows in the prices of several issues – has

5 newspaper stocks hit new lows - again

The shares of five newspaper publishers plunged to new lows in early trading today, including the shares of GateHouse Media, which fell to $1 per share, threatening its ability to remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Tumbling to new lows alongside GHS were Gannett (GCI at $16.43 per share), McClatchy (MNI, $4.58), News Corp. (NWS, $13.95) and New York Times Co. (NYT, $12.61). The