John Morton
John Morton
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.
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.
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,
attractive close community coverage fighting market newspapers people post share washington
It's an attractive market, which is why there are so many people fighting for market share over there. The Washington Post is never going to get down to the chicken-dinner coverage of these communities, and some of these community newspapers come close to that.
acquires daily early kept knight matter miracle newspaper profitable publish victim
An early victim would be the Philadelphia Daily News, no matter who acquires the company. It's much more profitable to publish one newspaper than two in the same market. It's a kind of miracle Knight Ridder kept it going this long.
affected call cuts fat industry leave news newspapers
The news staffs of the newspapers affected have all been pretty fat by industry standards, ... The cuts don't leave these newspapers in what I would call a weakened condition.
attract bad good inclined newspaper people seem
I used to think in the good old days, all a newspaper had to do to attract circulation was to put out a better newspaper. But young people don't seem any more inclined to read a good newspaper than a bad one.
hope money newspaper owners sink tabloids terrible willing york
A head-to-head between tabloids is as New York as cheesecake. Fortunately we have two owners who are willing to sink their money into it. It would be a terrible thing if it went away, and as a newspaper lover, I hope they just keep doing it.
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.
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,
center easier job knew pass
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.