DFM bloodletting continues

Its Colorado properties — headed by The Denver Post but including 11 other papers that have received short shrift in the coverage of the protests — drive 22 percent of those profits, or $36 million. On its own, the group drives a 19 percent margin for DFM. That makes Colorado DFM’s second-largest profit driver.

Leading the pack is the Bay Area News Group, headed by the Mercury News. Over the same time period, BANG cashed in $41 million in profit, spurred by a 21 percent margin.

Most astounding within a decade of unending bad business news for newspaper publishers: In seven years, Alden has doubled its Bay Area News Group profit (including its main Silicon Valley properties, but not others on the region’s outskirts) from $20 million to $40 million. In 2011, its profit margin was 7 percent, one-third of what it is now. And in that time, the group has shed about 220 newsroom staffers, now down to about 160.

 

Story also had a nice photo of Citizens Bank Park ...

 

I think this came from a Ken Doctor column. In the column he makes the point that he does not know what went into the numbers. For example do 2017 expenses only include cash expenses or do expenses include depreciation, which is a non-cash expense?

I pulled the 2017 numbers for McClatchy, which had revenues of 903,592,000. Total operating profits were 42,165,000 and depreciation was 80,192.000 for a total of 122,357,000. So if we assume that the expense number excludes depreciation and interest then DFM made about 36,000,000 more on a bit higher revenues. Even Gatehouse only had operating profits of 34,613,000 and depreciation of 74,394,000 for a total 109,007,00 on revenues of 1,342,004.

So I think the numbers above do not include depreciation as an expense.

 

Yeah, continuation of the Ken Doctor column in the previous post.

 

As near as I can tell the Denver Post has six sportswriters and is looking for a Broncos reporter. They seem committed to staffing the Broncos and Rockies with two reporters apiece. I would guess they would have a Nuggets beat reporter and a hockey reporter. Kizla is the columnist. So that is seven.

Which leaves no one else to cover anything else. While the Post receives CU and CSU material through content sharing are there any plans to cover high school sports? Does any large, local American paper not cover high school sports at all?

 

Maybe one reporter doubles as backup for Broncos and Rockies? That would free up one job for preps, etc.

 

In the ad for the Broncos reporter they did not mention a rotation.

 

Preps ain't shit anymore, guys. Deal with it.

 

But after the recent departures to the Athletic Newman has been helping with the the Rockies so it seems like the Post is keeping two on that beat. Mizell and Fredrickson are currently covering the Broncos. The recruiting ad said that the vacant Broncos job would work the beat with someone else. So if/when they hire the Broncos reporter either Fredrickson or Mizell rotate to the Nuggets.