The New York Times Company is Making Changes

Things are always changing in the world and The New York Times Company is right up there with changes. It plans to sell its Regional Media group to Halifax Media Holdings. Halifax will pay 143 million dollars in cold hard cash. This consists of 16 regional papers that include popular ones like the Tuscaloosa News. The deal won’t take too long to establish itself and the company hopes to have it complete in the next couple of weeks. After taxes are paid, then the company hopes to bring home around a profit of 150 million dollars.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. who is the chairman of the New York Times Company states that “as trusted institutions in their communities, delivering news and information that matter most to their readers.” Mr. Sulzberger added that the group’s sale “will enable The New York Times Company to continue our transformation to a digitally focused, multiplatform media company.”

It’s important for the company to focus on certain aspects of the company and it can do this by making this sale. In March, the company plans to do a digital edition of their newspaper. In the statement, Michael Redding, chief executive officer of Halifax Media, said: “The purchase of the Regional Media Group reflects Halifax Media’s belief that a good newspaper is an essential part of any vibrant community. The strong local news coverage these papers provide represents not only an important community service, but, in our eyes, a good investment.”

Mr. Redding added that the company was “impressed with the newspapers’ reputations as well as the markets they serve.” Ken Doctor, a media and publishing analyst at Outsell Inc., said “the move would allow the Times Company to focus on its flagship brand, The New York Times, and decide what it wanted to do with The Boston Globe.” Mr. Doctor described the sale price for the regional papers as “incredibly low. That’s saying basically each title is worth about $10 million” on average, he said, “which is just breathtaking when you consider what kinds of profit machines these newspapers used to be.”

Most people consider this to be a great move for the company and a great opportunity for Halifax. Of course, some of this comes with scrutiny from other companies but the ultimate decision is from The New York Times. Things are moving forward and the company is excited to see where things go from here. With most things going to digital media, it’s important to be prepared for what lies ahead. If anything, The New York Times is thinking ahead and making a move that could save them millions of dollars later. Everyone has their opinion but in the end, all the matters is the opinion of the people of the company and what they decide to do with the sales.

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