Who Owns What, 2007

As a sidebar to its coverage of Sam Zell's purchase of the Tribune Co., the Wall Street Journal has an interesting list: The ownership of the 20 largest papers in the U.S., as ranked by ABC circulation. It's fascinating to see who owns what at this juncture in the newspaper industry's history:

Newspaper Owner
1. USA Today ... Gannett Co.
2. The Wall Street Journal ... Dow Jones & Co.
3. The New York Times ... New York Times Co.
4. Los Angeles Times ... Tribune Co.
5. New York Post ... News Corp.
6. New York Daily News ... Daily News LP
7. The Washington Post ... Washington Post Co.
8. Chicago Tribune ... Tribune Co.
9. Houston Chronicle ... Hearst Corp.
10. Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) ... Tribune Co.
11. Arizona Republic (Phoenix) ... Gannett Co.
12. The Boston Globe ... New York Times Co.
13. Newark Star-Ledger ... Advance Publications
14. San Francisco Chronicle ... Hearst Corp.
15. Minneapolis Star Tribune ... Avista Capital Partners
16. Atlanta Journal-Constitution ... Cox Enterprises
17. Plain Dealer (Cleveland) ... Advance Publications
18. Philadelphia Inquirer ... Philadelphia Media Holdings
19. Detroit News/Free Press ... Gannett Co.
20. Portland Oregonian ... Advance Publications

Some thoughts about the list:
* With the Tribune Co. sale, five of the papers will have changed hands in the past year.
* There's a lot less media concentration than the doomsayers fear: No company owns more than three of the Top 20.
* An increasing number of the papers now have local ownership, or at least an owner that only owns one major newspaper.
* An interesting corporate name missing from the list: McClatchy, which for all its attention, doesn't own a major newspaper (after selling the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Its papers are in the next, mid-size tier.
* And finally, you have to wonder what this list will look like a year from now. What other ownerships will change? (Bet the L.A. Times, and maybe a couple others.) Can highly leveraged new owners like Zell make a go of it where rich corporate owners couldn't? (Warning: trainwrecks ahead.) Will we see any consolidation or ownership changes among the big corporate players? (After the past year, anything seems possible.)

Stay tuned. This list is probably best kept in pencil rather than ink.

Comments

[Ryan]

Seven different companies own the top seven papers - not bad, but with Tribune/Zell holding three of the top ten, I start to worry about private ownership.

I'd love to see an ABC list of the top 10 papers by percentage of circulation increase -- my bet is that these big fellas all drop off, and you find small papers moving ahead in certain parts of the country.