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SEARCH RESULTS FOR "MEDIA GENERAL"
The Newsonomics of the dead cat bounce The season's upon us, as newspaper and media companies announce their second-quarter earnings. At least some of the companies will announce: fewer than used to a couple of years ago, as Tribune has gone private (and banko), metros like Philly and Minneapolis have moved to private hands, MediaNews releases less information than it used to, and Dow Jones' results are less decipherable, aggregated within News Corp. news division results. News stocks lag despite dramatic rebound Although the shares of the publicly traded newspaper companies have advanced impressively from their all-time lows 12 months ago, they still are worth on average about a fifth of their value on June 30, 2005. Newspaper stocks plunge with sinking Dow Newspaper stocks, which had staged a remarkable rally that began almost exactly a year ago, tumbled again Tuesday along with a Dow alarmed at global and domestic economic news. For newspaper stocks, trading week was nasty, brutish and short As the Dow sank below 10,000, the newspaper sector took some final deep cuts Friday in a holiday-shortened trading week that left most stocks down by double-digit percentages. Newspaper stocks tumbled Tuesday, outpacing a down Dow. While that index closed off 1.1% on a 112-point drop, Lee Enterprises (LEE) and The McClatchy Co. (MNI) both fell more than 10% -- and other stocks weren't far behind. Q1 earnings reports, at a glance Here is a summary of earnings reports for selected newspaper publishers and what they reveal about the industry's prospects for the current quarter and beyond: How is Seattle P-I site doing, one year later? One year ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its last print edition and became an online-only publication. As news organizations experiment with new business models, Hearst's experience in Seattle may offer lessons. Media General also paying high price to spread out debt Tampa Tribune parent Media General Inc. (MEG) announced the pricing of its offering of $300 million of senior secured notes that will help spread out the maturities of its approximately $730 million in debt. The notes will carry an interest rate of 11.75%. With its price set at a discount to face value, the notes yield maturity is 12.25%. Media General refinancing debt Moody's Investors Service late Thursday assigned a relatively high, but still speculative-grade or "junk" credit rating, to Media General Inc.'s offering of $350 million in senior secured notes that will be used to pay down debt. We knew that USA Today's early word of a circulation plunge -- 17%, announced by Gannett two weeks ago -- would probably be a sick canary in a dark coal mine. Newspapers across the country show steep declines in circulation, in new FAS-FAX The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than a quarter of its daily circulation Circulation at many of the country's largest newspapers continued a steep slide as the Audit Bureau of Circulations Monday morning released the latest figures for the six months ending September 2009 -- proving yet again that the industry can't shake the dramatic declines that have taken hold over the past several years. Falling ad revenue and a big one-time charge pushed newspaper and TV station owner Media General Inc. to a third-quarter loss, the company said Wednesday. Newspaper stocks explode on Gannett Q3 forecast Newspaper stocks soared in early afternoon trading Tuesday, fueled by the news that Gannett will report third-quarter earnings that far exceed expectations. Trust in news media falls to new low in Pew survey Trust in news media has reached a new low, with record numbers of Americans saying reporting is inaccurate, biased and shaped by special interests, according to a survey set to be released Monday. Can you feel the bottom? Born-again cost-cutting leads back to profitability Can you feel it? It might just be a bottom. Wall Street valuations of newspaper companies certainly indicate it might be. Those valuations have mainly been based on the earnings reports of the last week. Media General reports 2Q profit Newspaper publisher and TV station owner Media General Inc. said Wednesday that cost cutting helped deliver a profitable second quarter despite tumbling ad revenue. SPECIAL REPORT Facing pay cuts, furloughs to avoid layoffs When owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News asked guild members last fall to give up a $25-per-week raise, most were agreeable to the idea. Shelly Richards, a member of the Philadelphia Newspaper Guild executive board and an advertising customer services employee, says they all knew the company was in dire straits, with ad revenue and circulation plummeting. Bruce Sherman, retire in peace So Bruce Sherman's out of the game. Failure apparently has its price, eventually. Hearst threat to close Chronicle underscores 'terrible' climate Hearst Co.'s plan to close or sell its San Francisco Chronicle newspaper unless it can cut more jobs signals that the industry's advertising sales may be headed to new lows. New York Times suspends dividend to preserve cash The New York Times Co. suspended dividend payments to shareholders Thursday, further underscoring the financial stress that's hobbling some of the nation's oldest and best-known newspaper publishers. Goodwill hunting: How to really value news? Goodwill. It's a notion that newspaper publishers and those of us who watch them have learned a bit more about over the past year. Gannett 4Q earnings fall on weak ad revenue USA Today publisher Gannett Co. reported lower preliminary fourth-quarter earnings Friday, but even those profits will be wiped out once the company takes pretax write-downs of as much as $5.9 billion to reflect the declining value of its newspapers. How will Carol Bartz feel about consorting with the press? And now, putting shivers into executives and managers everywhere, the words, 'let's do a reassessment.' It's as predictable as Claude Rains' Captain Renault in Casablanca. Instead of rounding up the usual suspects, thought, new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz will be rounding up the usual assessments. No bull: 2008 -- The year newspaper stocks collapsed This was a bad year for stocks, as anyone with a 401 (k) well knows. The Dow is down 36%, the S&P 500 by more than 40%. Yet publicly traded newspaper publishers can only envy that decline. New terms ease Media General's debt pressures Media General Inc., which publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other newspapers, said Wednesday it has reached new terms with lenders, giving it breathing room as its peers continue to contend with high debt and weak ad prospects. Its shares rose 12 percent. Beyond Tribune: More bankruptcies possible? Although Tribune Co. has the distinction of being the first major newspaper publisher to seek bankruptcy protection in this sour economy, it is hardly alone in facing the deadly combination of high debt and declining advertising revenue. FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS Newspapers squandering best talent Layoffs likened to 'slow-motion suicide' Having missed the implications of the Web and allowed both their content and their audience to be scraped away by aggregators and ad networks, newspapers are now working furiously to maintain audience, build new ad models and renovate presentation. But they won’t stay relevant to readers with generic content ginned up by newbies with no background in the communities they serve. NY Times, Media General fall on Harbinger's moves Shares of New York Times Co. and Media General Inc. slumped to their lowest point in decades Wednesday after an activist hedge fund that holds seats on both companies' boards limited its interest in the newspaper publishers. Have newspaper stocks finally reached the 'capitulation' bottom? Over at E&P's business-oriented blog Fitz & Jen, Editor-at-Large Mark Fitzgerald looks at how newspapers fared on Wall Street Wednesday, and concludes it might not be just another brutal day of trading for the battered sector -- but the moment when "capitulation" actually appeared. Newspaper woes The holiday grinch is already on his way to newspaper companies, where advertising for the rest of 2008 may match or be worse than an already-disappointing September. Gannett stock hits 18-year low On a bad day for newspaper stocks, shares of Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) sank Wednesday to their lowest price in 18 years. McClatchy to report 3Q earnings Tuesday amid downturn in ads, job cuts, debt McClatchy Co., the owner of The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and other newspapers, reports earnings for the third quarter before the market opens Tuesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period. Media General: Ad sales down 23% in publishing Media General Inc. said Thursday that advertising sales in its publishing unit plunged 23 percent in September as the worsening economy further depresses an ad market already suffering from a migration of readers to the Internet. Newspapers axe Monday editions as paper costs rise, ads dwindle When the McPherson Sentinel stopped publishing on Mondays, the newspaper told readers it wasn't any different from Hellman's shrinking its mayonnaise jars or Extra gum offering two fewer pieces per pack at the same price. Shares in newspaper companies fall with market Shares in most newspaper companies fell with the broader market Monday as investors feared a government bailout plan won't work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets. Newspaper stocks close down on wild day For those confident the proposed $700 billion bailout plan would finally get passed in Congress today had their hopes dashed. News that the House rejected the plan came mid-day sending the Dow south 6.9% or more than 700 points at close on Monday. Media General slashes dividend to 12 cents Media General Inc slashed its dividend nearly in half on Thursday as it deals with a debilitating decline in advertising revenue at its newspapers and seeks to pay off debt. Media General stock soars on August report Shares of Media General Inc. more than doubled in value Thursday, a day after the media company declared August its best month all year despite reporting a year-over-year decline in revenue. Newspaper shares mixed in nervous day on The Street Shares in newspaper companies were mixed Tuesday as the Federal Reserve kept a key interest rate unchanged despite acknowledging increased strains in financial markets. Newspaper stocks join Monday's market meltdown Shares of many newspaper companies sagged Monday, even more than the broader market, as analysts feared an extended economic downturn would further dampen advertising revenue and impede the industry's ability to borrow money. No fireworks for Media General as July newspaper revenue falls Media General Inc. released July results that suggest the sinking Florida economy is not yet through whacking away at The Tampa Tribune parent's financials. Gannett pink slips spark newspaper sector rally on Wall Street Gannett Co. stock soared Thursday on news the nation's largest newspaper chain plans to shrink its workforce by 1,000 jobs. Media General takes charge Of $512M Media General Inc. -- with the Tampa Tribune and its sibling media properties depressing its balance sheet and stock price -- disclosed Thursday it has taken a goodwill impairment charge of $512 million for its publishing division. Some newspaper stocks up in Monday trading Newspapers joined in the stock market's party Tuesday, with Media General Inc. leading the gainers with a 10% jump in share price. Nine questions on newspapers' 2Q reports So what do we make of the first half of 2008 in DailyLand? Bad and getting worse. I've listened to the CEO webcasts -- so you don't have to! -- and must say that there were a couple of eerie echoes of my own suggested remarks, offered a couple of weeks ago ("Candidly, Frankly, Truthfully, Newspaper CEOs Talk About 2Q). Slam dunk? Four newspaper stocks hit new all-time lows On another brutal day for the newspaper sector Monday, shares of four chains hit all-time lows, led by a 21% plunge in GateHouse Media Inc. shares to 66 cents a share. The new single-digit newspaper stock Is this the Big Board, or the Dollar Store? Nearly all newspaper stock prices have shrunk to the single-figure level Two events on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday seemed to sum up the woeful state of publicly traded newspaper companies. ‘Private’ time for newspapers? The shares of Gannett, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy and New York Times Co. have fallen so low that the companies have become candidates for transactions that could convert them to private ownership. The horror! Preview of 'Wall Street Weak' ahead Between the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac meltdowns, the collapse of airline industry market caps, the cratering of the financial sector, and arrival of $145-a-barrel oil, last week in the stock market was no fun for anybody. 7 newspaper stocks hit record lows in 1 day The shares of seven publicly held newspaper companies today plunged to the lowest point in modern history in perhaps the worst single trading day ever for the industry. Pink sheets, here we come? GateHouse shares fall below $2 Shares of GateHouse Media Inc. fell below $2 Thursday, plummeting more than 13% on the day. GateHouse stock hits all-time low on 14% price swoon Stock in one-time Wall Street darling GateHouse Media Inc. fell to an all-time low following a 14.1% price tumble Monday. Tampa Tribune plans to cut one-fifth of newsroom The Tampa Tribune plans to lay off 11 newsroom employees this week and another 10 by early fall as part of a one-fifth cut in the news. Star Tribune withholds some pay to lenders The company declined to make regular quarterly payment to junior debt holders. Star Tribune Co. declined to make a quarterly interest payment Monday to the holders of $96 million in second-tier debt that Avista Capital Partners raised to finance its acquisition of the news company last spring. Lee, Media General stock hammered as McClatchy is booted from Russell 1000 Shares in Lee Enterprises Inc. and Media General Inc. each fell more than 9% Monday, and The McClatchy Co. suffered the indignity of being kicked off an index of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies. Stock Market crash: New lows for Gannett, McClatchy, Media General, A.H. Belo Four newspaper companies hit new 52-week lows Thursday as the industry's stock slump generally outpaced even the Dow Jones Industrial Average sell-off of more than 3%. Papers facing worst year for ad revenue For newspapers, the news has swiftly gone from bad to worse. This year is taking shape as their worst on record, with a double-digit drop in advertising revenue, raising serious questions about the survival of some papers and the solvency of their parent companies. Yahoo and newspapers: Playing with fire As Yahoo burns, the newspaper industry watches, hoping it won't get singed. Media General to cut 750 jobs, reports very bad April revenue Media General reported weak April newspaper financial results Thursday, largely on plunging revenues in Tampa and its other two metro markets -- which drove help-wanted classified revenues down 42% and real estate down 40%. Media General to cut nearly 11% of work force Media General Inc., the newspaper publisher and television station operator, said Thursday it will cut nearly 11 percent of its work force by October to reduce operating costs. Newspaper execs didn't suffer as much as investors in 2007 Things were so tough last year that the top executives of eight of 12 publicly held newspaper companies suffered a pay cut. But things were even tougher for their stockholders. McClatchy stock down on huge volume Stock in The McClatchy Co. dropped more than 7% on trading volume Monday that was more than seven times higher than normal. A day after Wall Street beat down newspaper stocks -- sinking several to yearly bottoms, and The McClatchy Co. to an all-time low -- the sector rebounded sharply Thursday. Blood on 'The Street': McClatchy hits all-time low as Gannett, others scrape 52-week bottom Wall Street beat up The McClatchy Co. Wednesday, reacting to its first-quarter tumble in revenue by bidding its stock down to an all-time low. Lee Enterprises stock hits new low on Q2 loss -- But N.Y. Times Co., Media Gen up big In a trading day of big winners and big losers, Lee Enterprises played the goat Monday with Wall Street hammering its stock down by more than 10% after news the community publisher took a loss in its second fiscal quarter. Media General Q1 loss deepens on revenue slump With newspaper profits and revenues sharply down, Media General Inc. reported a loss of $20.3 million, or 91 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2007, down from a loss of $6.5 million or 27 cents a share last year. Big Board sends Journal Register home -- With final gain of a penny Journal Register Co. Tuesday ended trading for good on the New York Stock Exchange barely on the up side, gaining 1 cent to close at a price of 32 cents. Tampa Trib offering buyouts to half of all employees Media General Inc.'s Florida Communications Group, parent of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV, said Monday it is offering voluntary buyouts to about half of its 1,326 employees. Sector snap: Newspaper publishers slide Shares of newspaper publishers slid Friday afternoon as analysts took an increasingly bearish view of the troubled sector and forecast steep advertising drops. After the bell: Sector mixed on analyst's Q1 warning Goldman Sachs waved investors away from the sector calling newspaper stocks "value traps," in a note issued on Thursday. Journal Register Co. stock price sinks below cost of a daily newspaper It's now cheaper to buy a share of Journal Register Co. than its daily newspaper in Lorain, Ohio, The Morning Journal. Wall St. beats up on Media General, Journal Register Given its first chance to react on the trading floor to Media General's warning late last week that its first-quarter loss will be bigger than expected, Wall Street hammered the stock down 9.84%. Surging Dow lifts newspaper sector Wall Street's good cheer extended to the unloved newspaper sector Tuesday as the surging Big Board closed with all publicly traded newspaper companies ending the day in positive territory. On Wall Street: McClatchy, Media General, and A.H. Belo hit 52-week lows On a day when the tumbling Dow Jones Industrial Average took the entire publicly traded newspaper sector down with it, three companies -- The McClatchy Co., A.H. Belo, and Media General -- hit new 52-week lows for their stock prices. Media General urges shareholders to reject hedge fund move Media General Inc., a newspaper publisher and television station operator, on Tuesday urged shareholders to oppose directors nominated to its board by a hedge fund seeking to improve profitability at the family-owned company. Is it Time for the Times to get out of local paper business? You can feel the walls closing in at the new, light-filled Times building off Times Square. Man who forced Knight Ridder sale says goodbye to newspapers Bruce Sherman, whose Private Capital Management (PCM) investment firm nearly single-handedly forced the sale of Knight Ridder -- ushering in the era of Wall Street antipathy toward newspaper stocks -- formally bid the sector goodbye in a series of regulatory filings Thursday. An industry imperiled by falling profits and shrinking ads In just the last few weeks, The San Diego Union-Tribune eliminated more than 100 jobs, one-tenth of its work force. The Chicago Sun-Times began a major round of newsroom layoffs, then put itself up for sale, and publishers in Minneapolis and Philadelphia warned that tough economics could force cuts there.
Taking over the NY Times - gently Morgan Stanley couldn't depose the Sulzberger family, but a new, friendlier group of activist investors may yet gain influence at the media company Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of the New York Times Co., has had his hands full lately. Last year, he warded off a campaign by a Morgan Stanley fund manager to abolish the newspaper publisher's two-tiered shareholder structure. Then on January 27, a new group of dissident investors informed him that they, too, were mounting an effort to shake things up at the company. Media General profit falls on write-Down Media General Inc., a newspaper publisher and television station operator, said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 70 percent, hurt by a write-down, one less week in the period and less political revenue. McClatchy, Cox, and Media General unload SP Newsprint The White Birch Paper Co. has agreed to purchase SP Newsprint Co. from Cox Enterprises, Media General, and The McClatchy Co. for $350 million in cash. All three newspaper companies own an equal stake in SP Newsprint. How newspapers got into such a fix, and where they go from here It was the fall of 1999, and the newspaper I edited, The Wall Street Journal, was awash in money. Thanks to the dot-com boom and the lush advertising it generated, we were running the presses at full tilt nearly every day, yet had to turn away ads for lack of space. Gannett, Media General win waivers after lobbying FCC The chief executives of Gannett Co. and Media General Inc. personally lobbied top U.S. regulators before winning exceptions to rules that limit newspaper and broadcast ownership in the same markets. Media General November sales decline Media General Inc., a newspaper publisher and television station operator, said Tuesday November revenue fell more than 12 percent from last year due to fewer political advertisements and classifieds. Newspaper publishers trade mostly higher as analyst says revenue woes are cyclical Shares of newspaper publishers traded mostly higher Wednesday as a Credit Suisse analyst said the sector's continuing revenue struggles are likely cyclical. Sam Zell: FCC-anointed prince of "Multi-Media" city Think of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's blazing-guns Tribune (TRB) waiver in two ways. In one way, it's a celebration of feudalism, as the new Sam Zell-led Tribune gets an unexpected prize, principality status in Chicagoland. In another, it's Martin's own way to propel the local newspaper and broadcast industries fully into the 21st Century, opening the door to singular, city-based companies producing multi-platform journalism and selling multi-platform ads. News organizations are embracing video on their Web sites in a big way. The quality ranges from bad to basic to superb. And for some journalists, the advent of video is a terrific new career opportunity Even the most committed newspaper industry pessimist might begin to see a little sunshine after talking to Randy Bennett. Yes, the print business is "stagnant," acknowledges the Newspaper Association of America's new-media guru. And yes, he says, newsrooms are under pressure. But... MediaNews and Hearst buy majority in classifieds site Kaango for $20 million This was buried in newspaper conglom MediaNews's 10-Q filed earlier today with SEC: the newspaper group, along with The Hearst Corp., has bought 80 percent of online classifieds and software firm Kaango, for about $20 million. Kaango will be held by a newly formed LLC, which is 50 percent owned by each of the two. The remaining 20 percent of Kaango is owned by its founders and is subject to a call option and is expected to be purchased in the future, the company said. Private Capital cuts newspaper stakes Management, an investment company that had agitated for the sale of Knight Ridder Inc., has slashed its holdings of other newspaper publishers, according to a regulatory filing made Tuesday. 11 Newspaper companies partner with real estate giant Zillow.com The real estate Web site Zillow.com is striking up a partnership with more than 280 newspapers to provide local classified information such as for-sale listings and open house information. Sam Zell speaks at Inland Conference, slams that guy Nero Why, someone asked Sam Zell, at the Inland Press Association's annual meeting in Chicago on Monday afternoon, would the real estate mogul want to buy Tribune Company, "a 10-times leveraged newspaper company?" Scripps splits cable networks, newspapers into two companies E.W. Scripps Co. plans to split into two parts, becoming the second media company in recent weeks to isolate fast-growing assets from the troubled newspaper sector. Dead trees You're a newspaper company with sizable TV station holdings that are outperforming your troubled print business. But investors down on newspaper stocks don't appear to be taking notice. What to do? Real Cities network expands with addition of MediaNews The Real Cities Network the nation's largest network of local news websites, has expanded its network with the addition of 51 websites owned and operated by MediaNews Group, the fourth-largest newspaper company in the United States. Winston-Salem Journal shutters daily biz section The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal is shuttering its daily business section and cutting staff, according to the paper. Firm that forced Knight Ridder sale Private Capital Management, once the most enthusiastic investor in newspaper stocks, has dumped more than $2.5 billion in publishing shares, or 62.5% of its holdings, according to new Wall Street research. Tampa Tribune laying off 70, shrinking circ area and page width The Tampa Tribune will lay off about 70 employees as it pulls out of several Florida counties, combines previously separate newspaper sections, eliminates daily zoning, launches "hyper-local" Web sites, and trims another half-inch from the width of its print daily, the Media General newspaper said Tuesday. Tribune's February ad sales fall amid industry slump Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Hartford Courant, reported a 5.1 percent drop in February advertising revenue as Web sites drained sales from the industry's biggest newspapers. Vaporized: $13.5B in news stock value In a dramatic repudiation of newspapers by investors, the shares of publicly held publishing stocks in the last two years lost nearly $13.5 billion in value, or 20.5% of their market capitalization |
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