New York Times: November Terrible, but Our Debt Problems Are Under Control. Anyone Want to Lend Us Money?
by Peter Kafka
Posted on December 9, 2008 at 6:52 AM PT
New York Times (NYT) CEO Janet Robinson and her CFO, James Follo, are speaking at the UBS media conference later this afternoon. But they want to get the news out in advance: They had a miserable November, but they’re confident they can deal with looming debt problems.
The details, via a release:
- October, which was terrible, was better than November: “In November, the rate of change in advertising revenue declined from what we saw in October. The entertainment, real estate and automotive advertising categories were especially soft.”
- That $400 million credit line that expires in May? Don’t worry about it: “We have no intention or need of fully replacing the $400 million credit facility expiring next year because our total borrowing under both agreements is projected to be significantly less than $800 million, and currently is approximately $400 million.”
- And that $225 million we might raise by mortgaging our HQ? That’s not a fire sale: “The proceeds will be used to repay existing long-term debt. The building provides a unique opportunity for us to borrow at attractive rates in today’s market.”
- Also, would anyone like to invest in our company and/or lend us money? “We are also looking at various other financing alternatives, including revolvers, public offerings or private placements. While the credit markets remain challenging, we expect to secure the financing necessary to meet our maturities when they come due”
- This won’t shock you, but we are going to spend a lot less money on things that aren’t people, paper or ink next year: Capital expenditures will drop from $140 million in 2008 to $80 million in 2009.
Comments
Pinch and crew have done a great job running this paper into a mountain, the guy is laughable….
Posted by Aldo Bender at December 9th, 2008 at 9:46 amWe’ve been hearing about the demise of newspapers for some time now, and recent events seem to bear that out (Trib, anyone?). But I’m currently reading The Snowball, the new book on Buffett, and this kind of chatter has been going on since the 1970s. Will they pull through once more or are they doomed for good?
Posted by Carlos Portocarrero at December 9th, 2008 at 9:53 amWhat we need now is a bailout for newspapers. Not a blank check to soften the cushion for the likes of Sam Zell. No, let’s do it just like we’re doing it for the auto industry, and for the same reason. We must help newspaper journalism survive because it is vital to the Republic. But, only those newspaper companies that can develop a workable plan to quickly transport themselves into the digital age should be eligible for this bailout. And, the money should strictly go toward helping newspapers to stop killing trees and start being Internet only.
Newspapers – or at least newspaper reporters and editors – are critical to our society and democracy. If newspapers start collapsing and closing down, we will lose a public service that’s more valuable than many branches of government. There will be almost nobody to keep government and industry honest without newspaper reporters. The pronouncements of special interests will go unchallenged. People will not know what to believe.
TV and radio reporters only tell you what happened (NPR does a little more but its story count is very limited.) Bloggers (like me) tell you what they think happened, often with no facts to back it up. Newspaper reporters and editors tell you not only exactly what happened but they tell you why it happened. Only in newspapers does the public get enough information to decide the truth for themselves. By the way, TV, radio and blogs still get most of their information from newspaper reporters.
Unfortunately, people who work at newspapers have been deluding themselves over the past ten years that they could somehow survive in the dead tree business. But the avalanche of bad news (try to find something positive, I dare ya), culminating in the hideous bankruptcy of the Tribune Co., cannot be denied. Many newspapers may have only a few years to live. Some will not survive the recession. We will soon see major cities with no newspaper. That’s far worse than a shame. It’s a threat to society. It’s a threat to democracy.
Newspapers can survive, but only if they race as fast as possible to the paperless future. They won’t do it on their own; they need some enticement or coercion. A bailout of newspapers won’t cost anywhere near what it costs to bail out Detroit or Citibank. And if the government wants some equity stake as collateral, I’m fine with that. It works with NPR and BBC. So let’s get on with it. If newspapers can come up with a plan to go wholly digital, taxpayers who love democracy should help them out. Newspapers have helped out taxpayers for a century.
“… Were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Thomas Jefferson in letter to Colonel Edward Carrington, Jan. 16, 1787
Posted by Jim Gogek at December 10th, 2008 at 10:00 pm