Tribune, taken private last year by Sam Zell, may be considering bankruptcy according to a New York Times story.
Tribune gave its rank and file employees a fair amount of stock through profit sharing. That was great when the shares were trading at $70. As the stock fell into the $30s, our Tribune stock was just a reminder that layoffs were coming and half our nest egg was gone.
Free advice: Diversify. If you still work for a newspaper — any publicly-traded newspaper — and your 401K is flush with company stock, it may be worth talking to your financial advisor. When Enron went toes-up, a lot of its employees were hit with a double-whammy: not only were they suddenly out of work, their Enron-heavy 401Ks were near worthless.
So, explain the logic of this: The Trib is on life support, but The Post gave them a shot of adrenalin by subbing out their printing to them instead of instead of stepping on the oxygen hose.
The Herald is in such bad shape that they can’t even give the joint away.
The Post is the most viable, if only from a demographics standpoint.
Why, then, is it letting a competitor who is contemplating bankruptcy hold their presses hostage?
I wonder if the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel are playing a game of mutually assured destruction?
Look at it this way, Sam Zell isn’t going to close every Tribune newspaper and simply go out of business. Some of his papers are more profitable than others. The Sun-Sentinel has always been fairly good in the profits department. (On the other hand, the Daily Press (Newport News), has been effectively on the chopping block for years.)
If the Sun-Sentinel can make its books look even better by adding the Palm Beach Post to its customer list, maybe the Sun-Sentinel climbs up the Tribune profit ladder just high enough to survive. All the Sun-Sentinel has to do is make the cut-off and it survives.
On the other hand, the Post also wants to live another year. If having the Sun-Sentinel print its product means it doesn’t have to make a huge capital investment in new presses, the Post may stick around a little longer, too.
In short, the Post needs the Sun-Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel needs the Post. By binding themselves together through this production agreement, they both stay alive and provide the editorial competition to keep the papers lively. (The reason the Post and Sun-Sentinel had open pocketbooks and massive spending in the 1990s was there was a war in progress.)
But, what is the end game?
There are a few American newspaper markets that call out for a strong publisher from the days of old. Palm Beach, still, has enough mega-rich that an ego could come in and buy one or both of these newspapers, make money and political capital. As a swing state with a large number of electoral votes, a strong regional paper could be a power broker.
I see newspapers following the NFL team model… Rich people buy teams because they like owning a football team. On paper, owning a football team looks as foolish as owning a yacht (which the rich also do). In reality, NFL owners rarely lose money, often break even and some do fairly well.
Could newspapers be the next status purchase for the mega rich?
And, if they are, is that a step forward or a step backward over corporate ownership?
—Matt
Good point. The Daily Pulp got me thinking in that same line this morning when it reported, “The Sentinel (and the Herald, for that matter) are profitable newspapers, just not as profitable as they used to be. It’s their parents who are drowning in debt. In all likelihood, Tribune will be broken up for parts — and that means that somebody might soon have the chance to buy the Herald and Sentinel at what might seem like bargain prices. ”
This could be where Cox or someone else swoops in and picks up a media trifecta. That could explain the news-sharing and the pooled printing agreements.
The end game would be for the Herald property to be sold for its real estate value. The SS would survive for its printing facility. The Post’s remaining advertising and editorial staffs would move into a smaller location (the El Cid Bar across the street would probably be big enough) and the $27M north tower building be sold. No telling what will happen with the production side of the property.
As far as you comment about “keeping the editorial competition to keep the papers lively,” forget about it. You don’t share content with competitors.
Tribune filed today.
Says Zell: “The ESOP is part of the ownership structure, so its value and role long-term will be determined in the restructuring.”
ESOP = Employee Stock Ownership Program
In other words, all that stock that Tribune has given you over the years? Well, it *may* still be worth something.
Woops.
—Matt
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