John Morton
John Morton
leaving calling done
Let's be about leaving this world better than we find it each and every day. Our life is a testimony and through us divine loving is becoming more manifest. Greater good is calling upon us here in this world to be done this day. One of my rallying calls is let's go out and do some good. This is who we are. This is what we are about.
companies company growing inherited markets newspaper tony work
Tony Ridder inherited a company that had a lot of newspaper companies that are not in growing markets and would never be in growing markets. That's what he inherited, and that's what he had to work with.
Let's just say you didn't want to make Ramon Ramos mad. Ramon had your back.
acquired address appearing larger lower mirror operating papers profits size staff thrown trying typical
When Tribune acquired Times Mirror they acquired papers with much lower operating profits than Tribune papers have traditionally thrown off. The L.A. Times has a larger staff than is typical for that size of paper. They've been trying to address that without appearing to be a slash-and-burn company.
buyer chains concentration discard future goes growth markets newspaper ownership
There are only so many growth markets. As concentration of ownership goes forward, you'll see future acquisitions of newspaper chains go pretty much the way this one did: The buyer will keep the growth markets and discard the rest.
history trying
The history of trying to start a daily where there already is one is that it has never worked.
deal outside somewhat structure
That structure is somewhat different than what we outside the deal had surmised,
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He made everyone's job easier because he was a center who knew how to play the game. He knew when to shoot, when to pass out.
california dailies enhance folks francisco higher motive pay presence price proper san surround
He has most of the dailies that now surround San Francisco proper and this only enlarges his presence in the area. With the California properties, Singleton has more of a motive than other folks to pay a higher price because it would enhance what he already owns.
came improve known nightmare perfect pounding tony worst
It was a perfect target; Tony Ridder has known this for years and that's why he was pounding for the need to improve profitability. His worst nightmare came true.
fairly fat generally industry layoffs newspapers standards
These newspapers generally have by industry standards fairly fat news staffs, so generally the layoffs are not draconian,
continue generally
Generally speaking, their circulation will continue to decline. I don't know that there's any solution.
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I'm sure Sherman is not going to be a happy camper at 65 bucks, which is the price that's been talked about a lot. It would serve (him) right. He got this all started.
advertising consumers fairly money response spend stepping weak
This is in response to fairly weak advertising performance. Consumers are just not stepping up to spend money the way they usually do.