OC Register spends, grows

[Norrin Radd]

If he buys the LATimes, would this mean consolidation of newsrooms in the LA area?

That would be unique.

 

[Captain Obvious]

The newsstand price has been lowered to 25 cents.

But it costs $7.54/week for home delivery? Gimmicks won't bring back paying readers.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I know they've made one hire that I haven't stopped applauding...

 

[fishwrapper]

General wondering about a business plan/philosophy:

The newsstand price has been lowered to 25 cents.

That's great. But that's not a long-term anything.

The publisher says his model is more subscriber-based than advertiser based.

OK. But we know many deliveries to homes is at cost or at a loss. In L.A./O.C., one delivery person could be delivering the L.B. Press Telegram, the O.C. Register and the L.A. Times to the same block to reduce costs. And it's still a break-even proposition.

Kushner: "When you see very smart people like Kohl's or J.C. Penney who are actively reducing what they are doing, digitally, in order to do more in print, they're not doing it because it's trendy.

Wait. I'm confused now. Are we more subscriber-based or are we more advertiser-based? We also know that Kohl's and JC Penny direct-mail/consumer-direct advertising budget dwarfs any other campaign.

Like all of you. Man, I hope this works.

But reading profile after profile and journalist after columnist fawn over new ideas (which aren't really new), I remain skeptical. I read about the fresh/young face of journalism, I remain skeptical.

Perhaps it's because I lived through Sam Zell and remember the same adulation and endorsements.

Perhaps I'm just skeptical.

 

[BTExpress]

Perhaps it's because I lived through Sam Zell and remember the same adulation and endorsements.

Well, Zell did throw a company $13 billion in debt. The properties were --- and are --- profitable. Just not profitable enough to handle that debt burden.

Has Kushner thrown the OCR in debt? If not, he's at least a couple of steps ahead.

Zell also made only one promise to his newsrooms:

"No matter how this deal turns out, my lifestyle won't change. But yours might."

The only thing that stopped me from taking the plunge out there was the absurdly high cost of living. Working in an expensive place is one thing. Being out of work with a mortgage in an expensive place is something else. And if I went out there, a mortgage would be necessary, and my days of borrowing money are over.

 

[fishwrapper]

Perhaps it's because I lived through Sam Zell and remember the same adulation and endorsements.

Well, Zell did throw a company $13 billion in debt. The properties were --- and are --- profitable. Just not profitable enough to handle that debt burden.

Has Kushner thrown the OCR in debt? If not, he's at least a couple of steps ahead.

Zell also made only one promise to his newsrooms:

"No matter how this deal turns out, my lifestyle won't change. But yours might."

No doubt. Totally agree. I get the stock-option plan statements stating I'm fully vested and my shares are worth $0.
As a sidebar: Zell had a 40-year history of turning around depressed assets. Kushner ... we'll he's not even 40.

 

[BTExpress]

No doubt. Totally agree. I get the stock-option plan statements stating I'm fully vested and my shares are worth $0.

True. But like me, you also (I assume) got $34/share in 2007 instead of seeing Wall Street pummel those shares to McClatchyesque $2-$3 levels. Every day I look at my 401(k) statement I can't help but offer a "Whew! Thanks, Sam."

As a Zell survivor who jumped off the RMS Tribune 16 months ago, I'm interested in seeing what happens with the newspapers. I certainly miss my former Tribune salary. If Kushner buys them and grows them . . . I might start having regrets about bailing.

Wife wouldn't, though. She got tired of 365 days of summer every year.

The one thing Kushner (and others) will have to look at are the pension numbers. Tribune's are huge (my upcoming $770/month notwithstanding). And it wouldn't be surprising to see would-be buyers pass when they see those obligations.

 

[fishwrapper]

No doubt. Totally agree. I get the stock-option plan statements stating I'm fully vested and my shares are worth $0.

True. But like me, you also (I assume) got $34/share in 2007 instead of seeing Wall Street pummel those shares to McClatchyesque $2-$3 levels. Every day I look at my 401(k) statement I can't help but offer a "Whew! Thanks, Sam."

As a Zell survivor who jumped off the RMS Tribune 16 months ago, I'm interested in seeing what happens with the newspapers. I certainly miss my former Tribune salary. If Kushner buys them and grows them . . . I might start having regrets about bailing.

Wife wouldn't, though. She got tired of 365 days of summer every year.

The one thing Kushner (and others) will have to look at are the pension numbers. Tribune's are huge (my upcoming $770/month notwithstanding). And it wouldn't be surprising to see would-be buyers pass when they see those obligations.

When companies are bought or split, or bought and split the new company must take into account historical financial assumptions (like pensions). I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know.
Usually a negotiated amount by the seller and purchaser is put into a growth escrow that assumes (usually, and usually wrong) 10% growth and early death guesstimates. With modern economics and modern medicine, not always a winning formula.

I, too, left the company some time ago (willingly).

 

[Screwball]

Do we know whether the bankruptcy court approved a reduction in pension benefits? Seems like SOP for companies in bankruptcy.

 

[BTExpress]

Do we know whether the bankruptcy court approved a reduction in pension benefits? Seems like SOP for companies in bankruptcy.

Don't think so.

Mine shows the same number it always has.

 

[Screwball]

Good to hear.

 

[da man]

As in spending money, reinvesting in the product? Building up the product? As if anything the past 10 to 15 years worked wonders?

Look, I have some skepticism too.* But what the heck. Is it any more of a gamble than what else has been done of late?

* Full disclosure: I have been brought on board here. Less than a week in, so I'm not exactly reading the company script or know it by heart. So ... let's see what happens. It's different. It's out of the norm of what has come down the pipe in the print world since the Internet boom. It ... might actually work? There are no guarantees, as my last two stops at prominent places have proved, so the "gamble" isn't ginormous (in my eyes).

Congratulations, MH! I wish you and the Register all the luck in the world. I'd love to see it work.