European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Business is booming for America s newspapers j i new York Timas just five yews in the United stale were viewed by some of heir owners As the dinosaurs of the Media Industry. Cabin television the free shoppers and the new electronic information technologies seemed certain to Siphon Oil readers and advertisers. Nervous publishers were eager to diversify today that attitude in the United slates has changed. Videotex has hopped Cable to has failed to become a Mator competitor for advertising and publishers everywhere have Gollen into shoppers. Printing anti delivering the and Laden throwaways themselves America s nearly 1,700 daily news papers Are Prosper ing. The biggest newspaper chains Are bidding to buy Independent dailies at record prices. Newspaper companies Are realizing thai their Basic business remains the Roost attractive of All reinvestment alternatives says Joseph Fuchs a Media analyst at Kidder Peabody. Indeed America s nearly 1,700 daily newspapers ate prospering and that has set off a period of hectic consolidation in which the biggest newspaper chains Are bidding to buy Independent dailies Al record prices. Since May he chains have paid nearly $1 billion Tor four of the Best known regional newspapers and the bidding seems certain to continue with Wall Street investment Bankers aggressively marketing some of the takeover targets. Several Yean ego the Purchase Price for a Prol tabla daily newspaper was 2 to 2.5 times annual Revenue according to Bruce Thorp an analyst at Lynch Jones & Ryan. Now the Gannett co. The largest of the chains and the most Active buyer has paid $300 million for the Louisville courier journal and Louisville times or Erma Bombeck nearly Threa limes annual revenues. The times Mirror co., whose flagship is the los Angeles times bought the Baltimore Sun in May for $400 million 2.3 times Revenue and Ingersoll publications spent about $185 million in May or nearly three times revenues Tor the new Haven journal courier and Register the key to justifying these says Steven Rattner an investment banker at Morgan Slan Loy & company is convincing yourself 1ha1 advertise spending will continue to grow at a reasonable Rale despite a deflationary in Fael newspaper advertising has weakened Over the past 18 months prompting some to argue thai newspapers May be Selling Lor premiums that cannot be ust lied. But that has not slowed the acquisition Pace. In my 20 years there has not been an acquisition that in someone s opinion usually in the opinion of every Media critic has not been Over priced says Allen h. Neuharth Gannett s chairman. But there has no been an acquisition we be made hat has not turned out to have been either a Good buy a bargain or a not everyone shares Neuharth s View the Washington Posl co Tor example entered a bid Lor the Louisville papers last Spring but did not match Gannett s offer. One Industry analyst said the Post could not justify a higher bid because it might be less aggressive than Gannett in raising circulation prices and would probably retain a larger news staff. And Knight Ridder newspapers which operates such major regional dailies As the Philadelphia inquirer 1he Detroit f be press and the Miami Herald a has not bought a newspaper since 1980. Gannett however has made three major acquisitions in the past year As it pursues a policy of buying family owned dailies in major Urban markets where extensive Cost cutting is possible. For decades the typical paper in the Gannett Chain was the Small town daily but last summer Gannett bought the Des Moines Register and Tribune co. And the evening news association publisher of the Detroit news for a total of More than $300 million. With Gannell in the Lead. The nation s 25 biggest chains now control nearly 59 percent of the daily newspaper circulation in the United states up from 51 percent a decade ago. There were �3 papers sold in 1933,43 in t9b4,and52in 1985," said Jorton Morton newspaper analysis at Lynch Jones & Ryan. I see no reason to think consolidation will slow but in sizing up potential acquisitions the big newspaper groups apply somewhat different criteria. White Gannett sees whal can be done by culling costs and raising and and circulation rates to make Money the times Mirror the new York times co Knight Ridder and others often go for opportunities to increase circulation and expand the advertiser says Barry Kaplan a newspaper analyst at Goldman Sachs & co. The Gannett approach is very much in evidence in Iowa where the Des Moines Regis or circulates throughout lha state and into neighbouring states. Because a newspaper company Otten loses Money on such costly distribution it is referred to in the Industry As ego circulation. To Cut circulation losses Gannett has raised lha Register s weekly subscription Rale to $1.50 from $1.25. It raised the sunday Price to $1 from 80 cents the first increase in live years. Circulation 200 Miles away trom the local retailer is generally no of great interest says Douglas Mccorkindale gannet s vice chairman and chief financial officer. Since the Price increases the Register s circulation has dropped about 3 percent but at the same time Gannett has raised advertising rates by 8 percent and the corporate staff has been reduced As a result 1986 earnings Are expected to increase significantly Industry experts say that gannet is Likely to use a similar approach in Louisville where the morning courier journal also has a statewide circulation. The chains on the move Purcha tet by newspaper croup during the last live years of Dilim with circulations Over 100,000 Rae circulation purchaser Newport new Vic Okay tq4,000 Price in million 6/86 Dallas times Herald 5/88 courier 5/86 Baltimore Sun and time 4/66 Tacoma Newt Tribune 8/s6 Detroit hews 7/As de Maine Register can 1/64 Chicago Sun times 12/82 Boston Herald american 12/b2 Florida and Jacksonville journal 5/b2 Jackson Mew Clarion Ledger and daily news Tell Jib 244,629 118,819 3m.92t a�.5 107,678 856,367 234.boo t�,800 039,100 226,200 203,031 109,600 108,737 Media Newa group times Mirror an Rterle Mclatchy newspapers Hartnett Gannett to View net americ publishing pub Taino Morri communications new York time Oann etl 10 170 400 300 200 1so Tea w to i 100. 90 go sow Isit month in leveraged buyout to new Mir of in user i Unrug Fenland other in ours source John Morton rates rett no Yot Tim families Aren t what they used to Are the Days when june Cleaver yelled dinner and All four showed up Ward in Asuit and tie yet Large families who break Breed together went out with Glass milk bottles and real sugar. Today family members Are fragmented split merged spliced folded and spindled. Everyone knows that. Everyone except Lood manufacturers. They re still packaging edibles for that mythical family of five Mommy. Daddy. Dick. Jane and their dog spot. Doughnuts Are six to a package butter is sold by the Pound hot dogs Are eight to a package and bread is 16 slices to a Toat. Catsup and syrup Are family size hamburger buns Are eight to a package and Coffee is canned to last a single person through a nine month Winter. In fairness several companies have made the Effort to offer dried coups by Trie cup tuna tins for one Small jars of Peanut butter and e single fresh Turkey leg but generally the ones and twos of the world have to dedicate their entire fives to finishing off a can of whipped Cream or a loaf of French bread. Cooking for one or to has become the Challenge of the 80s Al in t easy to go from filling a trough three times a Day for a family of five to setting a mood of ambiance for two people. Buying a head of cabbage to Malie a couple of cabbage Rolls can be the Start of something you can t finish. You use Lour leaves to make the cabbage Rolls then several More leaves to make Cole Slaw several More to Fry with sausage and the last few remaining ones for vegetable soup. For the next three years you instinctively belch every time you pass a head of cabbage in the supermarket. In t it time for midget cabbages monday september 1. 19s6 the Spaghetti experience is another pitfall for the single diner. I have never known a Cook who believes she is cooking enough Spaghetti so she begins to add and add and add. I even bought one of those Little gadgets with four holes that supposedly tells you How much to Cook but i never Trust them and end up with enough Spaghetti to feed Sicily. Why in t there a package of Spaghetti for one Given the fact that people Are basically weak a lube of chocolate sauce for one would Benefit Mankind. And the Man who comes out with a Box of crackers that won l outlive a single person will be elected King. The giant Economy size cannot help but have an effect on the decision to marry or not to marry. That is not to say two can live As cheaply As one but As one of my friends said the other Day this marriage May or May not Asl but look Al it this Way. It s one Way to use up my Brown sugar before it turns to atone. A angina Towt pm us the stars and stripes Page 17
