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Tribune buyouts announced today

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Readallover, Jan 13, 2020.

  1. Readallover

    Readallover Active Member

  2. cubman

    cubman Member

    Our printing press here in Columbus will close as of March 6, affecting 188 people. How many of them get new jobs within the company is anyone's guess.
    My gut instinct is buyouts and layoffs are coming, probably within the next month or two.
     
  3. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

  4. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I have no idea if what he wrote about what is going on behind the scenes is true, but a few things.

    1) He wrote about a 20 percent drop in income, not "cash flow."
    2) The use of the word "budgeting" was very odd. A budget is a plan. Nobody puts a plan in place to see their profits drop by 20 percent. That is the kind of thing that happens despite your best efforts to perform better.
    3) When you have a company that is seeing its profits decline to that extent, whether it is an activist investor or otherwise, it's not that crazy for the largest shareholder/owner to push for the company to stem the tide. That kind of decline in profits is going to make the company less valuable, which makes your investment worth less. What Alden has done wthin the industry makes it a lightning rod, but at the end of the day, these are businesses that are performing poorly. Alden didn't make people stop buying newspapers. They see a way to earn a relatively quick return on their capital by buying in and aggressively cutting costs. There is probably a reason why newspapers are appealing to investors like that, and not growth investors who see a long-term opportunity with which to be patient.
     
    sgreenwell likes this.
  6. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    In other words, the Gordon Gekko approach.
     
  7. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    In answer to point 1. This is the quote from the link. "In 2019, Tribune reported earnings (EBITDA) of $97 million. Twenty percent down from that is about $20 million." So Doctor was confused and not really writing about earnings. The Tribune Company has been having negative earnings ever since it book the sale of the LA Times. Doctor frequently confuses earnings and EBITDA..
    As to point 2. It is odd that it is written that way.
     
  8. Readallover

    Readallover Active Member

  9. HappyCurmudgeon

    HappyCurmudgeon Well-Known Member

    HanSenSE and Liut like this.
  10. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    HappyCurmudgeon likes this.
  11. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    There’s nothing good to say about Alden.
     
  12. matt_garth

    matt_garth Well-Known Member

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