The Boston Globe is burning through cash like an arsonist in an abandoned warehouse and the The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), its parent, doesn't have much cash to burn. So now the company is looking to sell the Globe.The New York Times -- in a fit of editorial freedom -- cites unnamed sources who report that the deadline for the first round of bidding has been extended to allow potential buyers to await the outcome of a July 20 vote by members of the Boston Newspaper Guild.
But there's more to it. According to the Times, "They said possible buyers, wary of taking on the respected but money-losing newspaper, were also looking for signs that a deep slump in advertising was beginning to level off, as some industry executives had predicted it would."
Reading between the lines, it seems that Goldman Sachs has been unable to drum up the interest the company was hoping for, and is now extending the timetable in the hope that a better bid will come out of nowhere.
This is also a fun time to point out, with the benefit of hindsight, that the debt-ridden New York Times Co. could probably have sold the Globe to Jack Welch for more than $500 million in 2006. Now it's questionable whether the New York Times could get anything for the newspaper because of pension problems and its inability to generate cash.
This is also a fun time to point out, with the benefit of hindsight, that the debt-ridden New York Times Co. could probably have sold the Globe to Jack Welch for more than $500 million in 2006. Now it's questionable whether the New York Times could get anything for the newspaper because of pension problems and its inability to generate cash.
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