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Tampa Tribune sold for $9.5 million

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by DKIA, Oct 8, 2012.

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  1. silvercharm

    silvercharm Member

    The price of most newspaper businesses today is whatever the real property (land/buildings) is worth, and not much more. There are a few exceptions, but damn few.
     
    silvercharm, Oct 8, 2012
    #13
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Not sure the Times has $9.5 million lying around, judging from what I've read on other threads.

    And I'll never get used to that name either, especially having worked there when it was the SPT.
     
    playthrough, Oct 8, 2012
    #14
  3. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    It does. Hard to get a decent starting pitcher for that amount these days.
     
    Mark2010, Oct 8, 2012
    #15
  4. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Jim Hendry would have bid against himself, paid $12 million and given the Trib an extra three years and a full no-trade clause.
     
    Armchair_QB, Oct 8, 2012
    #16
  5. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Would that pass antitrust muster with the Feds?

    When the Rocky closed the Denver Post raised subscription rates from about $90 a year to about $180 a day. While the Post has lost most of the Rocky's subscribers as circulation has only increased from about 210,000 to 240,000 at $90 a pop the extra revenue adds up to at least 18M a year.

    So iy would make sense for the St. Pete paper to find $2M somewhere and buy the Tampa paper. I am just not sure if the regulators would allow it.
     
    LanceyHoward, Oct 9, 2012
    #17
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Why wouldn't the regulators allow it? Because that would create an impenetrable monopoly of news delivery and advertising options in the area that would put consumers and businesses at the mercy of this one all-powerful group?

    That's so 1985.
     
    LongTimeListener, Oct 9, 2012
    #18
  7. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    I think our paper just invested about that much in a new press.
     
    HejiraHenry, Oct 9, 2012
    #19
  8. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Good analysis.
     
    Tarheel316, Oct 9, 2012
    #20
  9. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Perhaps ther regulators are stuck in 1985. Hence my question.
     
    LanceyHoward, Oct 9, 2012
    #21
  10. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    $9.5 million is a piddling amount of money. What is striking is that a newspaper that is more than 100 years old was sold for that little to a private equity firm that is only a few years old and has no track record of anything. There were multiple bids, so you'd have to guess that this was the most that Media General could squeeze out of it.

    It also seems to be a trend right now. You have seen a bunch of newspapers being bought really, really cheap by private equity firms, and in the short-term it isn't necessarily the worst thing for those businesses, because it really does buy time.

    Being in the hands of private equity investors isn't the same as being part of a media conglomerate or a large company with publicly-owned stock shareholders who really just care about earnings growth. A private equity firm isn't going to pump endless money into something, but isn't burdened by the legacy costs that Media General was trying to shed -- they got the thing cheap. And you now can get rid of the pressure from shareholders. These are private investors who hopefully know what they got into and did it with realistic expectations of somehow squeezing out a modest, but good, return on investment. If they can somehow create new revenue streams that create a modest return on investment, it is a success for them.

    The bigger concern with this acquisition, if you work for the paper or are interested for whatever reason, would be that these guys don't seem to have much of a track record of doing anything. What do they know about newspapers, and what is their plan for creating that modest boost in revenue stream - presumably to turn around and resell at a profit? I really believe it is doable in the right hands. But it's all about having realistic expectations that the large newspaper companies can't have because they are weighed down by their old model and their legacy costs.

    There could actually be real value in newspapers at those kinds of bargain basement sales prices.
     
    The Big Ragu, Oct 9, 2012
    #22
  11. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    According to its web site, Revolution Capital Group's founder and a few of its other principals worked for Platinum Equity LLC, which bought (and fairly quickly sold) the San Diego Union-Tribune. (And in another odd media-related connection: Among Platinum Equity's holdings is Quark Inc.)

    A quick breeze through property records reveals that the property on which the Tribune and WFLA resides is assessed at $15.5 million. Not sure what the numbers would be if the parcel is split.
     
    FileNotFound, Oct 9, 2012
    #23
  12. reformedhack

    reformedhack Well-Known Member

    For me, here are the two money quotes from the Tribune's story about the sale:

    Tribune publisher Bill Barker: "This deal gives us the opportunity to do what makes sense for this local market. It gives us the ability to be outwardly focused and not worry about how some larger corporation leverages us."

    Revolution Capital founder and managing partner Robert Loring: The Tribune "checked many of the boxes we were looking for in terms of our criteria. ... We are definitely in this for the long haul. We don't flip businesses."

    As an alumnus of Mother Trib, I find a little bit of comfort in those statements. I know the current employees, while rightly skeptical, do as well and are breathing a lot easier as of yesterday.

    http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2012/oct/08/19/the-los-angeles-based-revolution-capital-group-bou-ar-525649/
     
    reformedhack, Oct 9, 2012
    #24
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