The daily dose of bad news

You've got to have a profit somewhere against which to write off a loss. It's not just a line on a ledger.

 

I am far from an expert on this stuff, but my gut feeling is a few of the big-boy chains will go belly up. The papers will be sold -- either to other chains for cheap, or to local owners for cheap -- and they will be retooled basically starting from scratch but with a familiar name.

and when retooled, they will have an astonishingly small newsroom compared to the slashed-and-burned shops of today.

but they will live on, albeit in a vastly different incarnation.

 

Good gracious.

I read Zell's broadcast division is holding steady or showing modest increases in revenue for the same period year-to-date.

But they should be WAY up from last year-- it's an election year. Local stations rake it in and make up for losses with the increased ad revenue from election years. And there was a Democratic primary contested everywhere.

There will be a staggering dropoff in ad revenue for the broadcast division starting in November.

What a freak show. If he doesn't start shedding assets like yesterday, he'll be belly up by January.

Paging a Mr. Eli Broad, a Mr. Ronald Burkle, and a Mr. David Geffen to the ink-stained courtesy phone.

 

What I do know is Mr. Singleton will land softly with his hefty salary and likely golden parachute.

 

Does anyone think the consequences of Lean Dean and Zell folding would be good, or should we start organizing bake sales?

 

Misery loves company. Come on into the pool, despots! The water's swill.