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It costs a fortune to cut fat. For regular people, it can mean hundreds or even thousands of dollars on gym memberships, special meals and organic restaurants. Yet, this pales in comparison to how much the Boston Globe is spending to lose some dead weight. It could cost the NY Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) property more than $1.2 million to bid adieu to the publisher that almost ran it into the ground.
Steven Ainsley has announced that he's going to retire as publisher of the Globe after having been at the helm for three years. Though quite proud of the two Pulitzer Prizes the paper picked up under Ainsley, the announcement didn't include the fact that he almost caused the newspaper retire before him. As usual, the newspaper is all too eager to talk about its awards, without even acknowledging the fact that it's on the brink of disaster.
But the Globe is still alive, and it's still a part of NYT. There are many ways to interpret the recent withdrawal of the newspaper from the market, but the fact that two identical (and low) bids failed to trigger a transaction pretty much tell the story. Under Ainsley, an already ailing newspaper became something that nobody would buy for anything approaching a reasonable amount of money.
The good news, of course, is that this gives the paper the chance to change for the better. But if you're excited about some new blood coming into the newspaper ... don't be. Why would a company like the Globe – or the NY Times Co. – look outside the family? Ainsley is being followed by Christopher Mayer, who joined the Boston Globe in 1984. He may have worked at other companies before, but he couldn't have spent much time there. Some quick career math on the 47-year-old indicates he arrived at the Globe when he was 22, usually the age of first "real" jobs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-10-2009 @ 8:55PM
Brianna said...
The newspaper industry had to seen this coming since the dot com boom. If readers can get news in an convenient "always on" form, besides coupons what is the purpose of buying a daily newspaper?
Perhaps the Boston Globe, the Ny Times and others will realize this and change it's business model before it's too late.
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