These are very tough times in the news business, and they require some very tough thinking. Notorious Wall Street analyst Henry Blodget offers some tough prescriptions for The New York Times Co., including:
- Sell the glitzy Times building
- Sell the Boston Globe and stake in the Red Sox
- Eliminate the dividend
- Shrink, sell or shut the Times Regional papers
- Reduce the size of the Times newsroom by 30 percent
- Significantly reduce debt (duh)
- Put into place a long-term print-to-online transition plan
I'm not sure I agree with the suggestion of deep newsroom cuts, but the other ideas all make a lot of sense. And the last one is long overdue–and not just for the Times. This is an interesting read, and it speaks volumes about the state of the entire industry that the company that should be its gold standard is now rated as junk-bond debt.
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