Boston Globe newspaper sells for fraction of buying price (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

The Boston Globe, one of the most prestigious US newspapers, is being sold for a fraction of what it was worth 20 years ago.

The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m.

Like many US newspapers, the Globe has been hit by a slump in advertising revenue with circulation declining.

The buyer is John W Henry, the main owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Liverpool Football Club.

In a statement in the Globe, Mr Henry praised the paper's journalistic pedigree: "The Boston Globe's award-winning journalism as well as its rich history and tradition of excellence have established it as one of the most well-respected media companies in the country."
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23559329

[Warpy]

1. Maybe prying it out of the claws of the last consortium

that tried to milk it as a cash cow and returning it to what it once was will work to increase circulation. Decreasing the print to advertising ratio certainly wasn't attractive to subscribers.

I know I treated myself to it out here in NM on Sunday for the first few years I lived here and saw the beginning of the slow decline. Part of it was because an Old Guard of journalists who got the job the hard way were retiring, leaving the job to kids right out of college who really didn't have a clue how to pry stories out of dissembling sources. Most of it was because the Old Guard wasn't replaced at all, the loss in personnel increasing space for advertisers and fattening the bottom line.

Then again, I suppose it will go the way of other industries and nearly disappear before a new generation discovers the power of print over one liners on Twitter.