In a lengthy, behind-the-scenes look at
The New York Times by
Joe Hagan in
New York magazine, he speculates that with former CEO and president Janet Robinson now gone, the company may place
The Boston Globe back on the block in the near future.
To turn the financial corner, the
Times has been off-loading struggling properties from its portfolio to raise cash, bailing on its investment in the Boston Red Sox and selling its group of regional newspapers, which the Times wrote down as a $161 million loss in 2011. Three years ago, the Times tried selling
Boston Globe, its sister paper, but was unable to find a deal. Last year, the company began debating whether to try again.
This matter, it turns out, was the hinge point at which the
Times’ business failures, the family tension over the dividend, and the Nisenholtz and Gonzalez affairs would all conspire to isolate Sulzberger and force Robinson out. In the past, Robinson had resisted selling the
Globe. She wanted to wait until the
Globe’s new pay wall, which launched last fall, took effect and possibly improved the paper’s sale value. “Janet was the leader of the group that didn’t want to sell it, and because she was boss, her voice carried,” says a person familiar with the situation.
While the pay wall seems to have stanched the bleeding the
Globe was suffering circulation-wise, it’s unlikely that it will have enough of an impact to offset the nearly 15% drop in circulation revenue and 6% in advertising revenue decline the
Globe has suffered since the last time the paper was for sale in 2009.
Robinson may have thought — more like hoped — beyond reason, that a pay wall was going to make the
Globe more attractive to potential buyers and increase its sale price. But it’s far more likely that the decision will wind up costing the
Times money, since overall business conditions have continued to deteriorate leaving few, if any, buyers for newspapers at this time.
The time has long passed for the
Times to sell this $1.1 billion mistake and put this horrific investment behind it once and for all.
