Gatehouse buying Halifax

[FileNotFound]

This is kinda big.

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/11/20/gatehouse-media-parent-to-buy-halifax-media/

 

[steveu]

Uh oh.

 

[Tarheel316]

Uh oh.

Care to elaborate?

 

[steveu]

Given Gatehouse's history and the fact there are some pretty good properties throughout the SE that Halifax owned... I could be wrong and I hope I am.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Don't let the non-competes hit you in the ass on the way out, Halifax.

I seem to recall one of their suits, during the whole debacle, told the employees the non-competes were needed because the company was committed to pouring money into their careers (not necessarily their pockets, of course). Yeah, some commitment. Two years. Cut and run, vultures.

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

I work for one of the papers affected here. Don't really know anything yet but I guess I'll find out sooner rather than later.

 

[Spartan Squad]

This is the same Gatehouse that was trying to dump some weeklies because they over extended on the last round of buying up crap. This is a company that gives up dollars to save pennies.

Anyone know if they are still trying to consolidate the production desks? It was a thing they tried a few years ago that a few of us resisted and actually avoided having to ship our production from the West Coast to the East.

 

[schiezainc]

This is the same Gatehouse that was trying to dump some weeklies because they over extended on the last round of buying up crap. This is a company that gives up dollars to save pennies.

Anyone know if they are still trying to consolidate the production desks? It was a thing they tried a few years ago that a few of us resisted and actually avoided having to ship our production from the West Coast to the East.

They bought up the Providence Journal here a couple months ago and the layout guys are (mostly) gone in February as they move to their super center in Texas. This was the press release I saw a couple months ago about the center: http://www.gatehousemedia.com/article/20140411/NEWS/140419944/11765/NEWS.
Guaranteed each and every production person affected by this move is gone.

 

[lesboulez]

i'm actually surprised Halifax owned it as long as it did...but, it's just a vulture picking the carcass of another vulture's vulture capital...

 

[steveu]

I'll elaborate on my "uh oh"... GateHouse has a history of laying people off and running bare-bones operations, from what I've heard. I just wonder if GateHouse will come in and strip these papers bare. I'd be feeling better if someone like BH Media bought these. (And yes, I know BH has done some scattered layoffs, but still...)

 

[doctorx]

Hitch up trousers, show a little gumption, do more with less, elbow grease, etc.

 

[Liut]

I'll elaborate on my "uh oh"... GateHouse has a history of laying people off and running bare-bones operations, from what I've heard.

Accurate description of my experience.

 

[Bronco77]

Wasn't too long ago that some of the Florida papers headed to Gatehouse were owned by the New York Times. Talk about a downward ownership trajectory.

 

[Tarheel316]

Wasn't too long ago that some of the Florida papers headed to Gatehouse were owned by the New York Times. Talk about a downward ownership trajectory.

As someone who works for one of the papers being bought, I have more than a passing interest here. We were cut back a bunch during the NYT era too. We heard all the bad things about Halifax. Not much has changed during their tenure, with the main thing being we kept our jobs. I can only think positive, go to work each day and hope for the best.

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

Wasn't too long ago that some of the Florida papers headed to Gatehouse were owned by the New York Times. Talk about a downward ownership trajectory.

As someone who works for one of the papers being bought, I have more than a passing interest here. We were cut back a bunch during the NYT era too. We heard all the bad things about Halifax. Not much has changed during their tenure, with the main thing being we kept our jobs. I can only think positive, go to work each day and hope for the best.

Yep. In the same boat with you.

It's easy to sit back and guess as to what is going to happen but when you're directly affected by it, well you definitely know more than anyone else outside the situation.

 

[Bronco77]

Wasn't too long ago that some of the Florida papers headed to Gatehouse were owned by the New York Times. Talk about a downward ownership trajectory.

As someone who works for one of the papers being bought, I have more than a passing interest here. We were cut back a bunch during the NYT era too. We heard all the bad things about Halifax. Not much has changed during their tenure, with the main thing being we kept our jobs. I can only think positive, go to work each day and hope for the best.

Yep. In the same boat with you.

It's easy to sit back and guess as to what is going to happen but when you're directly affected by it, well you definitely know more than anyone else outside the situation.

Well, my thoughts are with you guys. I've been through two ownership changes (one of which dragged on for almost a year before the sale went through) at places I've worked, and all you can do is focus on the tasks at hand.

 

[steveu]

My thoughts as well are with the former Halifax papers. I talked with one this year about a digital editor position and found the organization to be a first-rate class act.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

My thoughts as well are with the former Halifax papers. I talked with one this year about a digital editor position and found the organization to be a first-rate class act.

In spite of the non-competes?

 

[LanceyHoward]

I would really like to know the multiple of the sales prices to EBITDA. Ken Doctor wrote that private party transactions are taking place at a multiple of four. That was the multiple used when the New York Times sold the properties to Halifax.

The reason for the low multiples are that revenues are declining and what you make this year will probably be less than what you make next year. But at those multiples someone like Gatehouse can rationally say that newspapers are dying. But they can have a strategy of cutting the hell out of costs for the next few years. If they can maintain cash flow at something approaching 2014 rates they can pull enough money out of the paper to recoup their investment. And if they close individual papers there may well be some headquarters real estate they can sell of on the way out the door for a good price.

But it will be a horrible place to work as the costs are cut annually.

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

My thoughts as well are with the former Halifax papers. I talked with one this year about a digital editor position and found the organization to be a first-rate class act.

In spite of the non-competes?

Halifax pulled those off the table due to employee backlash. And believe me, there was a lot of backlash.

I'm not sure if brand new employees had to sign them though, but I know existing employees did not.