April 19, 2024
In five languages (English, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian) and two U.S. printing, “Newsonomics: Twelve Trends That Will Shape the News You Get” is the first Ken Doctor book. Sign up here for notice of the new Newsonomics Readers.
Just swipe your phone these days and it feels as if The Onion’s done a hostile takeover of the known news world. Even Tronc’s escapades seem tame compared to the wider news of 2017. As April Fool’s Day approaches, I offer seven (real) questions in this springtime of the news business. What’s ...
Read MoreOn Thursday, Michael Ferro solidified his control of Tronc, the company he seized a more tentative kind of control of just 13 months ago, deposing then-Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin in a quick coup de press. This week’s move looked financial, but too, speaks deeply to power and control. ...
Read MoreWhat’s a Tronc (TRNC) worth these days, or, more precisely, what’s a quarter of a Tronc worth in early spring 2017? That’s our media math question of the day. On Monday, Tronc Vice Chairman, would-be Friend of Trump, Los Angeles Lakers part-owner and anti-cancer crusader ...
Read MoreTronc (TRNC) , the third-largest U.S. newspaper company, is closing in on a deal to buy Us Weekly from Jann Wenner’s Wenner Media. The purchase price likely would be in the $85 million to $95 million range, sources said, with Tronc chairman Michael Ferro believing the acquisition will ...
Read More2016 goes down as a memorable year for those in and around the media. Though audience levels have never been higher, the digital transformation burden weighed ever more heavily on news media’s back. Then “the media” saw itself pummeled endlessly in the run-up to the election and even more in ...
Read MoreIt seems to be going around this week, but try not to catch it: Gannettenfreude. While it might seem like a great, borrowed-from-the-Teutonic word for a soap opera-like, mangled newspaper M&A mess, Gannettenfreude may be even more pernicious. Gannettenfreude is the taking of delight in the ...
Read MoreAs Gannett’s deal to buy Tronc unwound in real time Thursday, punctuated by historic one-day share price slides, those in and around the deal struggled for words to describe it. Collapse. Hit the wall. Game over. However, for the money guys all around this deal, it’s a phenomenon they’ve seen ...
Read MoreEarly in the month, I reported an “imminent” sale of Tronc, publisher of a trove of newspapers including big-city broadsheets like The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun, to Gannett, publisher of USA Today as well as a vast array of regional newspapers around the ...
Read MoreWhen officials at Tronc (formerly known as Tribune Publishing) canceled a September roadshow highlighting to investors in a half-dozen cities the bright future of the company just a day after announcing it, speculation began in earnest among Tronc’s close watchers. Was it as mundane as trouble ...
Read MoreIt’s apparently no longer a question of whether to sell or not, but for how much. For four months, Tronc – the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, parent of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune among other similarly august titles in smaller markets – has steadfastly and ...
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