The New York Times, that stalwart defender of all things liberal, put its money where its mouth is this week by demonstrating its own commitment to deficit spending.
AFP reports on the particulars of the Times’ investment prowess:
The Boston Globe reported Friday that a businessman is preparing to offer more than $200 million to buy the struggling newspaper from its owner, The New York Times Co.
The Boston Globe said Aaron Kushner will make a formal offer within the next few weeks for the Times Co.’s New England Media Group, which includes the Boston Globe, Boston.com, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette of central Massachusetts and Telegram.com.
… The Times Co., whose holdings include The New York Times and International Herald Tribune in addition to The Boston Globe, sought a buyer for the Globe in 2009 but failed to receive bids attractive enough to merit a sale.
The Times Co. bought the Boston Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993 but the value of the newspaper has plummeted since then, along with the fortunes of the US newspaper industry.
To review: The Times paid $1.1 billion and is selling for $200 million. In other words, they lost $900 million on this nifty little transaction. In other other words, they lost 82% of their original investment.
These geniuses have a big future in the Obama administration.
Source: AFP
