The Gray Lady is undergoing a slow well-known makeover by purchasing outside the newspaper business. Over the last couple of years, the New York Times Co. has purchased a minority stake in a baseball team, bought a small televison station and invested in a cable channel. Its biggest investment was the acquisition of a Web portal for $410 million. Now, the New York media company, known for its venerable daily, acquired Monday a subscription-based film and television database and research service,
Baseline StudioSystems, for $35 million in cash from
Hollywood Media Corp. The new purchase offers access to more than 1.5 million records of information on the entertainment industry. The Times says that it expects Santa Monica, Calif.-based Baseline to generate about $6 million in revenue in 2006. Although not a big deal in terms of numbers, the move still follows the Times' strategy of diversifying its media holdings. The Times has seen some moderate success, so far, with its purchase of About.com, which boosted its online advertising revenue 34.4% to $6.2 million in July (see chart of other purchases). So what's next for the Times? Probably, much of the same — a continuation of buying assets outside of the newspaper business — to satisfy its shareholders who are looking for growth.—
Gerald Magpily
| Investments outside of the newspaper biz |
| Date |
Company |
Business type |
Price |
| 8.28.06 |
Baseline StudioSystems |
Entertainment database research service |
$35 million |
| 11.03.05 |
KAUT-TV (Oklahoma City, Okla.) |
Televsion station |
N.A. |
| 2.17.05 |
About.com |
Web portal |
$410 million |
| 4.05.05 |
Investment in Discovery Channel (later renamed to Discovery Times) * |
Cable Channel |
$100 million |
| 2.27.02 |
Minority interest (17%) in Boston Red Sox |
Baseball Team |
N.A. |
N.A.=Not available
*Times divested in 2006
Source: TheDeal.com |
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