Investment banking isn't the only industry under siege in the U.S. economy; daily newspapers are flatlining as well. The New York Sun, for example, will print its last edition Tuesday after burning through $80 million in its six and a half years of existence. The conservative broadsheet struggled from the onset, going through a reported $1 million a month.
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The paper meets its demise after original investors, who include Wall Street barrons Roger Hertzog, Michael Steinhardt, Bruce Kovner and Tom Tisch, balked "at funding the increased losses going forward" according to the New York Post.
The New York Sun's problems are indicative of those that the
entire newspaper faces: sluggish advertising, rising print and
distribution costs, a declining economy, and of course the Internet, all of which have U.S. newspaper publishing companies facing tough times. Advanced Publishing Corp., owner of the largest newspaper in New
Jersey, The Star-Ledger, threatened to close the paper by next year if
it doesn't get concessions from labor. McClatchy Co., which publishes 30 daily newspapers, including The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald, is having cash flow problems and had to renegotiate terms of its $1.175 billion debt agreement on Sept. 26. Among the lenders more onerous terms were forcing McClatchy to put up more collateral and pay higher interest rates. - Gerald Magpily
See Dealscape: CBS' Moonves sees dark future in newspaper sector
See Dealscape: Star-Ledger obituary could be written soon
