As the stock chart below shows, the NY Times has has a tough couple of years, down more than 50% from its highs in 2002.
Yet, while everyone is writing the Times obituary, now is the time to take a fresh look at the company. The company is actually relatively diversified, and has several assets which will allow it to thrive and profit in the future. They are:
- Well-regarded newspapers including the flagship NY Times, Boston Globe, International Herald Tribune, and a mix of other papers.
- An online site in NYTimes.com that is a news leader. If the Times plays its cards right, it can help to lead the Blog revolution instead of being caught up in it.
- An expanded online precense with About.com. The times operates one of the largest online properties on the Web and understand the digital world.
The Times is currently caught at an akward cross-roads as revenue from its online operations can't make up for the shortfall in its offline operations. I think the company will be successful at stopping offline losses and will see online revenue continue to surge.
The worse that can happen is another media conglomerate swoops in to purchase the company. Dow Jones fetched a premium price because high quality media assets are valuable and not easy to create.
If the adage buy low, sell high, is correct. then now is the time to pick up one of the countries premier media brands cheap.
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