Alden Proposes Purchase of Tribune Publishing

[PCLoadLetter]

I do not understand the newspaper business from the inside.

So, can someone explain how and/or why having a paper run as a non-profit entity is superior to having the paper owned and run by a corporation or owned and run by an extremely wealthy individual such as Jeff Bezos (today) or William Randolph Hearst ( yesterday)?

A nonprofit isn’t going to slash the staff to the bone to protect the profit margin for the shareholders.

 

[MileHigh]

WSJ News Exclusive | Los Angeles Times Owner Exploring Sale of Company

Ugh. That didn't take long.

 

[BTExpress]

A nonprofit isn’t going to slash the staff to the bone to protect the profit margin for the shareholders.

Well, that's the 2009 argument.

Now they're slashing staff to the bone to keep the lights on.

Don't underestimate the role of debt in all this. More than one corporation took on huge debt loads just before things started to go south in a hurry. Minus the debt loads, the road would have been bumpy. With the debt loads, it just ran off a cliff.

When the banks loaned Zell some $8 billion to buy Tribune in 2007, the ink was barely dry on the paper before the banks were only getting 90 cents on the dollar when they tried to sell the debt. "Solvency" was the question, not "profit margins."

 

[Readallover]

https://nypost.com/2021/02/19/janice-min-withdraws-from-la-times-editor-search-amid-sale-talk/

 

[cake in the rain]

Dr. Soon's denials notwithstanding, I highly doubt that WSJ invented this possibility out of thin air.

 

[TigerVols]

Prolly looking to dump U-T.

Anyway, not to go all Fredrick but $500K for editor of the LAT is all you need to know about the newspaper biz. Good Lord that's embarrassingly low for an executive position.

 

[Severian]

Good Lord that's embarrassingly low for an executive position.

$500,000 salary. To be editor of the LAT.

You call that "low," in 2021? I hope that's sarcasm.

 

[TigerVols]

$500,000 salary. To be editor of the LAT.

You call that "low," in 2021? I hope that's sarcasm.

It's low for anyone running a multimillion-dollar organization of hundreds of employees in Southern California. Undoubtedly.

Maybe he should go to work as a Port Pilot II for the City of LA.

2011–2019 salaries for Los Angeles | Transparent California

 

[dixiehack]

$500,000 salary. To be editor of the LAT.

You call that "low," in 2021? I hope that's sarcasm.

The tight ends coach at UCLA made like $450k last year.

 

[Screwball]

The tight ends coach at UCLA made like $450k last year.

Pretty sure the LAT is not sponsored by Nike.

 

[Mr. X]

What do the top editors of The New York Times and Washington Post make? If that is not a fair comparison, what does the top editor of fill in the blank publication make?

 

[LanceyHoward]

What do the top editors of The New York Times and Washington Post make? If that is not a fair comparison, what does the top editor of fill in the blank publication make?

The New York Post article said that the job would pay $500,000-$700,000 a year. Jill Abrahamson was making $525,0000 at the New York Times in 2014. I realize that there was a lot of controversy about her salary but it gives some idea of what the going rate is.

I also find it hard to believe that the U-T is up for sale. It is printed in Los Angeles. If it is struggling as part of the LA Times it would probably struggle even more if it operated independently.

 

[Sports Barf]

Pretty sure the LAT is not sponsored by Nike.

Neither is UCLA

 

[ChadFelter]

Jill Abrahamson was making $525,0000 at the New York Times in 2014.

So the top editors who are men must make $1.2 mil at least.

 

[Severian]

The tight ends coach at UCLA made like $450k last year.

Apples to watermelons.

I'm talking only about newspaper editors.

 

[LanceyHoward]

So the top editors who are men must make $1.2 mil at least.

What do editors at top newspapers make? I offered Jill Abrahamson because her salary has been widely reported.

 

[Screwball]

Neither is UCLA

LAT says it is: UCLA announces new deal with Jordan Brand, Nike to replace Under Armour

 

[Sports Barf]

LAT says it is: UCLA announces new deal with Jordan Brand, Nike to replace Under Armour

that makes no sense, Jordan went to UNC

 

[Fredrick]

Why has the Chicago Tribune had such bad luck with owners? Of all the great newspapers in the country, hasn't the Chicago Tribune been affected the most (negatively) by ownership changes? It once had the best sports section in America. Now it's just like the rest. Tiny.

 

[BTExpress]

In its heyday I doubt it even had the best sports section in its chain.

I really doubt it went to the French Open, Wimbledon, the Goodwill Games (Moscow) and the America's Cup (Australia) in a nine-month stretch, as we did in Fort Lauderdale. :)