And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XXIII

Dear former commenter Bruce M*** - the Boston Globe is going somewhere!

It wasn't a particularly tough call, but a correct call nonetheless:

Red Sox owner John Henry will soon sell The Boston Globe’s sprawling, 16-acre newsroom on Morrissey Boulevard and move the broadsheet into a smaller facility, according to a report posted today on Boston Magazine’s website.

Henry told the magazine the sale of the property “will provide us with the ability to move into a smaller, more efficient and modern facility in the heart of the city. We believe that there is enough excess value there to fund very important investments in our long-term future, if the community supports development of the property.”

He mentioned no timetable or specific area in the city where he might move the Globe.

The resale value of the property — located close to the Southeast Expressway — long has been regarded as the Globe’s most lucrative asset. Henry purchased the New England Media Group from The New York Times for $70 million last year.

The next obvious step - shitcanning some deadweight!

Reader Melissa H. sends along this article (complete with a ridiculous, groan inducing portrait of John Henry), and notes the following Shank tidbit:

Some staff members have begun to chafe at their boss’s impatience and inexperience, though. After Henry bought Liverpool FC in 2010, Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy made a habit in his column of asking whether he was spread too thin to effectively run the Red Sox (which was three years before John Henry bought the freaking Globe! - Ed.) (in case you’re wondering, McGrory says Shaughnessy has “the safest job in New England”). Now Henry has the Red Sox, Liverpool, and the Globe.

Is anyone convinced of that, except delusional Boston Globe employees like Brian McGrory who now kiss John Henry's ass so they're not the first ones on the chopping block?

Dan Shaughnessy Death Watch(?) - III

John Henry purchased the Boston Globe in late October 2013 for $70 million, a deal I characterized back in August 2013 as a play on the Globe's real estate value, the sorting out of which remains to be seen.

For you Rush fans out there, Mr. Henry has now assumed control:

Red Sox owner John Henry named himself publisher of The Boston Globe yesterday and former Hill Holliday head Mike Sheehan as chief executive officer — a move that demonstrates Henry’s day-to-day focus on the broadsheet, Sheehan told the Herald.

“He’s going to be very active in the strategic direction overall at the Globe, which he’s eminently capable of doing,” said Sheehan. “It’s a reflection that he is going to be active. ... This is not a hobby.”

I don't care how rich you are - while I haven't studied John Henry's career in great detail, it should be self-evident that anyone who buys a company wants that company to make money in order (in accounting and auditing terms) to continue as a going concern. Based on a ignominious $1 billion loss and cumulative twenty-year record of financial failure in that area, I would trust that Mr. Henry has a plan that does not rely on the delivery of the dead-tree news model to affect a return to profitability.

Sheehan, like Henry, stressed the importance of the Hub remaining a two-newspaper town.

“I believe the stronger the Herald is, the stronger the Globe is,” said Sheehan, “and the stronger Boston is.”

Sheehan is also the treasurer of The One Fund Boston, the charity that raises money for Boston Marathon victims.

Henry declined comment to the Herald yesterday through a spokeswoman, but said in a statement: “My main role as publisher is to ensure that the Globe has the right management and that management has the resources to accomplish its mission.”

I'm not so sure about that. The only difference between the two newspapers has been the rate of loss, in financial terms, market share, or circulation numbers. I do not claim to be a businessman on Mr. Henry's level, but I have some thoughts on this matter and I would rather be mauled by Great White sharks in Wollaston Harbor than reveal them to management and ownership of the Boston Globe. That's just how I roll...

Editor's note - the Roman numeral in the post title has been included to reflect the number of times The DSW has used 'Death Watch' as a blog post label as speculation / offhand hope that John Henry, current owner of the Boston Globe, performs selective and specific downsizing of certain Sports section staff columnists and so-called associate editors. This may also replace posts formerly known as 'And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - ???', since the primary focus of those posts was to highlight the piss poor financial performance of the Boston Globe as an alleged for-profit corporation. In that sense, I suppose you could successfully argue they are now a non-profit entity!

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XXII

The hits just keep on coming:

The New York Times Company [$NYT] reported second quarter 2013 earnings 48% below last year's quarter due to severance and other "special" items but digital paid subscriptions rose 40%.

The full results are here: www.nytco.com/pdf/2Q_2013_Earnings.pdf

Despite rising numbers of readers and paid subscriptions, the company continues to struggle as advertising revenues continued to fall again— 6% in this quarter. This is the eighth sequential quarter of declining print and digital advertising revenues.

"Print and digital advertising revenues decreased…largely due to ongoing secular trends and an increasingly complex and fragmented digital advertising marketplace."

Jeff Bercovici, media reporter at Forbes, noted that the good news on digital was not enough.

Digital subscriptions still represent a smallish part of the company’s overall revenue picture — just 15% of circulation revenue and 7.8% of total revenues, which fell 1% in the quarter, to $485 million.

This is just a further indication that John Henry's recent purchase of the Boston Globe is a simple real estate play.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XXI

The Boston Globe continues to flounder:

Circulation and advertising revenues at the New England Media Group — which runs The Boston Globe — took a dive last quarter, just as The New York Times gets ready to announce a sale of the broadsheet any day now.

New England Media’s overall revenue fell 7.4 percent last quarter compared to the second quarter of 2012, the Times announced during a quarterly conference call earlier today.

Advertising fell 9.5 percent last quarter. Circulation revenue dropped 2.3 percent, even though the Globe hiked up home delivery prices in May, Times execs reported. Other revenues dropped 14 percent.

Um, I'm pretty sure circulation revenue dropped because home delivery prices were increased, but maybe it's just me...

This part's interesting:

Times Chief Financial Officer James Fallo told analysts it’s “unlikely” that pension obligations will be included in the sale of New England Media, which also includes the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Boston.com.

Does this mean the NYT assumes the pension obligations, or are they gone completely (i.e. - no pension for you!)? It could also mean that the bids are structured in a way not to assume those obligations (asset purchase only).

...

The long-awaited Globe sale could come any day now with several bidders reportedly in the mix, including a team consisting of former Globe execs Steve and Ben Taylor and former Time CEO Jack Griffin; Red Sox owner John Henry; and the Revolution Capital Group, which owns the Tampa Tribune.

Bid prices, however, have reportedly ranged between $65 million and $80 million — far less than the $120 million analysts had once projected and a shell of the $1.1 billion the Times paid for the Globe in 1993.

This tends to support what I said in previous Globe bashing posts - these bids look like a play only on the land, building & equipment at 135 Morrissey Boulevard (asset purchase), since there's no reason to offer a premium on a money losing operation. At least the Times will have a nice tax writeoff on the $1 billion loss, so they have that going for them...

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XIX

Alternate title - can't wait for the New York Times' 10-K, if this article is an accurate leading indicator of performance in the industry.

The Washington Post Co. on Friday reported bad news for its newspaper division, with revenue totaling $127.3 million for the first quarter of this year — down four percent from 2012 — and an operating loss of $34.5 million.

Overall, the company posted a profit of just $4.7 million, an 85 percent drop in earnings from the net income of $31 million for the first quarter of last year.

In the newspaper division, daily and Sunday circulation at the Post dropped 7.2 and 7.7 percent, respectively, compared to 2012. Average daily circulation totaled 457,100 copies, with Sundays at 659,500. The report also noted that in January of this year, the Post increased the paper’s price for daily home delivery and daily and Sunday single copies. And print advertising revenue at the Post in the first quarter of 2013 dropped 8 percent to $48.6 million, down from $52.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Every dark, dark cloud has it's silver lining:

As for online — primarily washingtonpost.com and Slate — the company had better news to report. Revenue generated by the company’s online publishing increased 8 percent to $25.8 million for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $23.9 million for the first quarter of 2012. The company also posted a 16 percent increase in online display advertising, although online classified advertising revenue on washingtonpost.com fell 6 percent for the first quarter of 2013.

The company, meanwhile, has announced plans for a paywall this summer.

I wonder how that's working out for the Boston Globe? We'll find out when the 10-K comes out, which should be in the very near future. Astute observers of this site will note this has not been an issue here in quite a few months; it's amazing what can happen when you put your mind towards solving a problem and trading notes with others.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XVIII

It just gets better and better over at Boston's boring broadsheet.

Blindsided Boston Globe employees — still reeling after The New York Times Co. put the Hub paper up for sale again — are slated to come face-to-face this morning with a top Gray Lady exec for the start of what could be a messy split, including the likely demand for contract talks from the paper’s 10 unions, insiders said.

Remember this the next time, or the last time these sanctimonious pricks lecture you about the 'sanctity' of the union movement.

“People are very nervous and scared, very scared,” said one longtime Globe staffer, who requested anonymity. Another compared the paper’s pending sale to “a divorce, a bad divorce.”

As opposed to a good divorce? You Globe idiots have had nearly a decade to extricate yourselves from this morass, and in your steadfast refusal to do so, I (and the reading audience) am now supposed to take pity on you poor souls? You're main Globe cheerleader on this site, 'Objective' Bruce bailed on you five years ago, and that wasn't enough of a sell signal? Spare me, you dumb bastards...

New York Times Co. vice-chairman Michael Golden — who was openly pushing to dump the beleaguered broadsheet — is expected to join Globe publisher Chris Mayer in a series of so-called “Town Hall” gatherings with staff.

Sold down the river. Good luck to you, dickheads.

I have not one ounce of sympathy for a newspaper who, over the thirty plus years I had the unfortunate circumstance to observe, denigrate, belittle and disparage nearly every major corporation, business entity and nearly all other manners of free enterprise except themselves, and now they are finally getting, in a manner of speaking, their just desserts. Once again, for one notable exception, I have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone there losing their jobs. Good riddance.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XVII

Alternate post title - FIRE SALE!!

The New York Times Co. announced today it plans to sell the Boston Globe and the rest of its New England Media Group.

Be gone!

You know how Patriots coach Bill Belichick's press conferences are often described as coach speak? Behold - corporate speak, AKA steaming hot piles of bullshit:

“Our plan to sell the New England Media Group demonstrates our commitment to concentrate our strategic focus and investment on The New York Times brand and its slanted liberal journalism,” said Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times Co. in a prepared statement.

Mr. Thompson has his own set of problems.

“The Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette are outstanding newspapers and they and their related digital properties are well-managed leaders in their markets with real opportunities for future development. We are very proud of our association with the Globe and the Telegram & Gazette, but given the differences between these businesses and The New York Times, we believe that a sale is in the best long-term interests of these properties and the employees who work for them as well as in the best interests of our shareholders,” he added.

'Outstanding newspapers' is debatable; what they really are, are money-losing entities, which is why they're on the chopping block.

The Times Co. says it has retained investment firm Evercore Partners to manage the sales process. Evercore spokesman Dana Gorman said the firm would not have any further comment beyond the New York Times Co. statement.

That's because they don't yet know what the deal's worth, if anything.

Martin Callaghan, president of the Boston Pressmen’s Union, the group that prints the Globe, said he has only seen the company’s statement on the potential sale and the union is hoping to get more information from Globe management in the next few days.

“It’s caused a stir in the building, especially with the number of contracts that are open now,” Callaghan said. “I can only speak to my union. We have two contracts open. That’s raising some concerns.”

Face it, Marty - once the Globe is sold, your contracts will get torn up and you're all dead meat. I trust everyone's resumes are updated, right?

The New England Media Group consists of The Boston Globe, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Telegram.com, GlobeDirect — the Globe’s direct mail marketing company — and the Times Co.’s 49 percent interest in Metro Boston.

It’s not the first time the Times Co. has explored a sale of the Globe. In 2009, the company threatened to close the Globe but later backed off after employee unions agreed to millions in concessions including wage and benefit cuts and bids from prospective buyers were lower than anticipated.

Which apparently did little to stem the cash flow loss, which also explains today's announcement, and the resulting shitshow was entirely predictable three short years ago, for anyone who felt like running some numbers.

The New York Times Co. bought the Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993, at the time the highest price ever paid for a U.S. newspaper.

In the long run, an entity is worth one of two things: 1) whatever the immediate sale of all assets, less contractually obligated liabilities, is worth, or 2) the discounted value of all future cash flows. Since the Globe's been losing money hand over fist for years and years, causing longtime commenter 'Objective' Bruce to end his employment with the Globe when he took the buyout back in early 2008, the value assigned to option 2) is $0.00. Option 1) depends on the fire sale value of the assets less its liabilities. Without separate balance sheets and market values of the assets of the Globe and the Gazette, I'll opine that any bid for these entities over $10 million is foolish.

Or you could look at things another way - as noted above, the New York Times paid 1.1 billion for this 'asset', in which the best wet dream sale price for this 'asset' in 2013 might fetch $100 million from a sap purchaser too fucking stupid to figure out there's nothing of value here in the long run, unless he gets a bid accepted for far lower than that price, then converts 135 Morrissey Boulevard into dormitories for UMass-Boston, dumps the other assets and shitcans every Globe employee in the process, for which with one single exception I have no problem with whatsoever. The NYT then realizes a $1 billion loss, and we're supposed to expect the next guy to keep things running and actually turn a nickel on this piece of shit when it hasn't happened in a two decade timespan? It's not happening. Do not catch a falling knife. For you pro-union guys out there, read this, then we'll talk...

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XVI

The HMS Titantic keeps taking on water...

The quarter showed the negative impact of the Times's introduction of a digital "paywall" to the New York Times and Boston Globe Web sites, limiting nonsubscribers' access to the sites.

The number of digital subscriptions at the Times, Globe and International Herald Tribune rose 11% from the second quarter to 592,000. That helped lift circulation revenue to $234 million, up 7.4% from the year-earlier quarter. But advertising revenue fell 8.9% to $182 million, primarily due to lower national display and real-estate classified revenue, the company said. Revenue slipped 0.6% to $449 million.

Both print and digital advertising contributed to the advertising decline—10.9% for print, and 2.2% for digital. The company blamed the digital advertising decline on a weak economy and price pressure caused by a glut of inventory and the rise of programmatic ad buying. The company expects the advertising outlook in the fourth quarter to be similar to the third quarter, it said.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XV

I wonder if this is a good thing for the Globe?

The blue line in the chart above displays total annual print newspaper advertising revenue (for the categories national, retail and classified) based on actual annual data from 1950 to 2011, and estimated annual revenue for 2012 using quarterly data through the second quarter of this year, from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). The advertising revenues have been adjusted for inflation, and appear in the chart as millions of constant 2012 dollars. Estimated print advertising revenues of $19.0 billion in 2012 will be the lowest annual amount spent on print newspaper advertising since the NAA started tracking ad revenue in 1950.

The decline in print newspaper advertising to a 62-year low is amazing by itself, but the sharp decline in recent years is pretty stunning. This year's ad revenues of $19 billion will be less than half of the $46 billion spent just five years ago in 2007, and a little more than one-third of the $56.5 billion spent in 2004.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XIV

Unconfirmed reports have Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi being suspended for plagiarizing a column (first reported at Free Republic; original quoted article below is unmistakably Howie Carr):

On Aug. 15, GOP political columnist Todd Domke wrote on a WBUR blog that Vice President Joe Biden should apologize for his “chains” remarks. Two days later, in an unsigned editorial, Vennochi wrote, well, basically the same thing.

The bow-tied bumkissers have refused to release the name of their latest scofflaw in the tradition of Mike Barnicle, Patricia X. Smith, Jayson Blair and a host of other Globe pipe artists and journalistic grifters.

But multiple sources have confirmed that the latest member of the Globe Hall of Shame is Vennochi … [Vennochi] did not return several phone calls and an email over the weekend seeking comment on her suspension.

Imagine that - a Globie suspended for plagiarism by ripping off an article about... another plagairist. This article, rich in irony!

Along with radio silence at the Globe on this matter, it's more or less why it's unconfirmed at this point. I'll pile on as this develops.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XIII

So you're the New York Times, parent company of the Boston Globe. You continue to lose money at an astonishing rate while your subsidiary loses half of its dead tree readership in a three year span and shitcans yet more employees.

So what do you do for an encore? Give the new CEO a boatload of money, that's what!

Incoming New York Times CEO Mark Thompson stands to make at least $8 million dollars by the end of 2013, financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed Friday.

The outgoing BBC director general will be paid a base salary of $1 million, a sum that will be substantially padded by assorted perks, bonuses and benefits.

When he starts work in November, the 55-year-old will be eligible for a $3 million signing-on bonus, $100,000 in relocation allowances, $25,000 for legal fees (that non-disclosure agreement sure is expensive - ed) and $333,000 in salary and bonuses until the end of this year.

In 2013 he will also be eligible for $1 million a year under the company's annual incentive program and be able to tap $3 million as part of the company's long-term incentive program, bringing the total to nearly $8.5 million.

The Times, which is America's most prestigious newspaper (ha ha - that's a good one! - ed) as well as a growing online news power, said it had recruited Thompson for his ability to develop non-traditional news products.

Great work, guys!

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - XII

The Liberal Death Star New York Times, parent company of the Boston Globe, came out with the quarterly financial statements last week. In a development that should surprise no one, the company continues to bleed red. Net loss for the quarter = $88.1 million. Management is largely silent on the forward looking statements, which can be found here. Like there's anything positive to say...

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - X

A former Boston Globe employee who comments on this site is known, among other things, for insisting that 'The Globe ain't going anywhere', despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

The Globe may or may not be going anywhere, but we know fifty-three people who are going somewhere - under le guillotine:

The Boston Globe has offered buyouts to 20 newsroom staffers and 23 advertising employees, at the same time it laid off 10 people from across the publication, according to the paper’s publisher.

The cutbacks come amid plummeting circulation at the beleaguered broadsheet (they worked in an alliteration; how clever! - ed.) and renewed speculation that the New York Times [NYT] Co. is looking to sell the Globe and its sister paper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

“These continue to be challenging times for our industry and our business. We face rapid change in how readers get their information and how advertisers communicate their messages. That requires us to make tough choices along the way about how to allocate our resources,” Globe Publisher Christopher M. Mayer wrote to the newspaper’s staff, according to boston.com.

I just wanted to emphasize a few things for our beloved commenter, just in case he feigns ignorance or does his Kevin Bacon routine at this 'evidence to the contrary' thingy...

The buyouts were offered to both union and management employees. Not everyone offered buyouts will necessarily accept them, Mayer said (in which case they will get shitcanned - ed.). The company refused to say how much money it hopes to save with the job cuts.

The latest audit in May saw the Globe’s daily print circulation fall below the 200,000 mark for the first time in its history.

That's, like, less than half of what it was less than three years ago! Is this the Globe or the Titantic? Was our intreipd commenter Bruce M. feeding us bogus, inflated circulation numbers this entire time?

The Herald also reported in May that the Globe was shuttering its suburban bureaus to avoid further bloodletting taking on any more leases. The move was seen as setting the stage for the paper’s last rites sale.

Does this mean Shank won't be going to the Sox / Yankees series this weekend?

Bay State businessman Aaron Kushner — often mentioned as a possible Globe buyer — bought a West Coast chain last June, leading some to speculate whether he’s dropped his bid for the Hub broadsheet. Meanwhile, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, said it offered buyouts yesterday to as many as 10 employees in the news, advertising, and human resources departments, and laid off one worker, according to the paper’s website.

I'd say Kushner's dropped his bid - what's your bet? Where's the value here?

“Today the New England Media Group made funeral arrangements difficult decisions as part of a program to rebalance the business so we could continue to invest in our digital future while providing the highest quality journalism that our readers and advertisers expect from us,” the Times said in a statement.

Wouldn't 135 Morrissey Boulevard make a great dormitory building for UMass-Boston?

Quiz Time II!

An old high school buddy sent me this Ron Borges prediction about drafting Richard Seymour. He says, "Thought you'd get a laugh out of this." I did, in a small way, but he actually set me off, because I remember Ron Borges writing a July 2002 column claiming that Lance Armstrong wasn't an athlete. I dismantled that article in someone's blog comments section, now deleted, unfortunately. It was that article that got me into blogging. That, and my love of the Boston Globe!

As I'm sending links back to my high school buddy (with an expletive-filled e-mail), I run across Borges' Wikipedia page, I see this gem from Shank:

“We should have one of those Globe polls—‘Who do you hate more?’ I’ve challenged Borges to see who could get out the vote. It would be close. And it would be a lot more interesting than who’s going to win the MVP.” -Dan Shaughnessy

So my question to you is - who do you hate more?

* Dan Shaughnessy;
* Ron Borges, or;
* The Boston Globe?

Holy Crap

What a sad state of affairs it is when the former president of Holy Cross dies and one of the alumni interviewed to eulogize him is Dan Shaughnessy.

What a sadder state it is when Shaughnessy touts his "smart, dignified, Christian presence.” This, remember, is the same guy who called David Ortiz a "sad sack of you-know-what" for no apparent reason other than he had signed as a free agent with the Red Sox.

Maybe The CHB had a premonition that Ortiz would someday lead the Red Sox to the Promised Land, thus destroying the "Curse of the Babe" cottage industry Shank had spent (wasted?) his career building up.